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62D J,f s!TT« SS } HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES { D No?1470 T 



U.S. 2 ' 2. 

JAMES POLK LATTA 

(Late a Representative from Nebraska) 

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 

DELIVERED IN THE 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND THE SENATE 

OF THE UNITED STATES 

SIXTY-SECOND CONGRESS 



Proceedings in the House 
May 26, 1912 



Proceedings in the Senate 
March 1, 1913 



PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF 
THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON PRINTING 



rf^fe 



WASHINGTON 
1913 



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» J C r \3F^ t 



D. OF D. 

1913 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



Page. 

Proceedings in the House -. 5 

Prayer by Rev. Henry N. Couden, D. D 6 

Memorial addresses by — 

Mr. Stephens, of Nebraska 9 

Mr. Collier, of Mississippi 20 

Mr. Rainey, of Illinois 23 

Mr. Sharp, of Ohio 26 

Mr. Kopp, of Wisconsin 29 

Mr. Foster, of Illinois 32 

Mr. Cullop, of Indiana 34 

Mr. Stephens, of Texas 39 

Mr. Maguire, of Nebraska 43 

Mr. Kinkaid, of Nebraska 47 

Mr. Norris, of Nebraska 56 

Mr. Sloan, of Nebraska 59 

Mr. Lobeck, of Nebraska 63 

Proceedings in the Senate 67 

Prayer by Rev. Ulysses G. B. Pierce, D. D 68 

Memorial addresses by — 

Mr. Hitchcock, of Nebraska "0 

Mr. Brown, of Nebraska 73 

Biographical sketch by Mr. J. R. Sutherland 14 

Funeral services at Tekamah, Nebr 17 



[31 




: I E S P. L ■ 



DEATH OF HON. JAMES POLK LATTA 



Proceedings in the House 

Monday, December 4, 1911. 

Mr. Lobeck. Mr. Speaker, just after the close of the last 
session we received the sad news that the Hon. James P. 
Latta, a Member from the State of Nebraska, had passed 
away to the great beyond. I had known Mr. Latta for 
over 30 years, and I know that he had the love and respect 
of every Member and colleague of this House. I send to 
the desk the following resolution, and in the future, at 
the proper time, I wish to speak about my honored friend 
and colleague. 

The Speaker. The Clerk will report the resolution. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

House resolution 310 

Resolved, That the House has heard with profound sorrow of 
the death of the Hon. James P. Latta, late a Representative from 
the State of Nebraska. 

Resolved, That the Clerk of the House be directed to transmit 
a copy of these resolutions to the Senate. 

The resolution was agreed to. 

The Speaker. The Clerk will read the other resolution. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

House resolution 312 
Resolved, As a further mark of respect to the memory of the 
the Hon. Edmond H. Madison and the Hon. James P. Latta, the 
House do now adjourn. 

The resolution was agreed to; accordingly (at 2 o'clock 
and 18 minutes p. m.) the House adjourned until to-mor- 
row, Tuesday, December 5, 1911, at 12 o'clock meridian. 

[5] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Latta 

Monday, April 22, 1912. 

Mr. Stephens of Nebraska. Mr. Speaker, I ask unani- 
mous consent that Sunday, May 26, 1912, at 12 o'clock m., 
be set apart for addresses upon the life, character, and 
public services of the Hon. James P. Latta, late a Repre- 
sentative from the State of Nebraska. 

The Speaker. The Clerk will report the order. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Ordered, That Sunday, May 26, 1912, at 12 o'clock m., be set 
apart for addresses upon the life, character, and public services 
of Hon. James P. Latta, late a Representative from the State of 
Nebraska. 

The Speaker. Is there objection to the present consider- 
ation of the order? [After a pause.] The Chair hears 
none. 

The question was taken, and the order was agreed to. 

Sunday, May 26, 1912. 

The House met at 12 o'clock noon, and was called to 
order by Mr. Lobeck as Speaker pro tempore. 

The Chaplain, Rev. Henry N. Couden, D. D., offered the 
following prayer: 

O Thou who hast called us into being and filled our 
souls with longings, hopes, and aspirations which time 
nor space can measure, our wisdom, strength, and love 
are but reflections of Thy wisdom, power, and goodness. 
Thou knowest the beginning and the end; we are Thine, 
dependent upon Thee. Increase our faith and confidence, 
and awaken in us the brightest hopes, that we may lean 
on Thee and look forward without fear, since Thy love 
encircles all. It were not more difficult for Thee to extend 
our being into some one of Thy many mansions than to 
have called us into existence. Thou hast taught us to 
love life; to think of annihilation is overwhelming. When 

[6] 



Proceedings in the House 



our friends are taken from us our hearts are rent and 
torn with sorrow and grief, but the angel of love whispers: 

Be still, sad heart, and cease repining; 
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining. 

We can not think our friends out of existence; they 
remain a part of us. Be this our solace as we here gather 
on this quiet, peaceful Sahbath day in memory of one who 
served his State and Nation as a legislator under the 
Dome of this great Capitol, chosen for the high station by 
the people who knew him and had confidence in his in- 
tegrity and ability to serve them. May his bereaved wife 
and children cherish his virtues and look forward with 
the brightest anticipations to a reunion beyond the con- 
fines of this transitory existence, where they will dwell 
with him forever, and everlasting praise be Thine through 
Him who taught us Thy love and the immortality of the 
soul. Amen. 

The Clerk began the reading of the Journal of the pro- 
ceedings of yesterday. 

Mr. Stephens of Nebraska. Mr. Speaker, I ask unani- 
mous consent that the further reading of the Journal be 
dispensed with. 

The Speaker pro tempore. The gentleman from Ne- 
braska asks unanimous consent to dispense with the 
further reading of the Journal. Is there objection? 

There was no objection. 

The Journal was approved. 

Mr. Stephens of Nebraska. Mr. Speaker, I offer the 
resolution which I send to the Clerk's desk. 

The Speaker pro tempore. The gentleman from Ne- 
braska offers a resolution, which will be reported by the 
Clerk. 



[7] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Latta 

The Clerk read as follows: 

House resolution 552 

Resolved, That the business of the House be now suspended 
that opportunity may be given to pay tribute to the memory of 
Hon. James P. Latta, late a Member of the House from the State 
of Nebraska. 

Resolved, That as a particular mark of respect to the memory 
of the deceased, and in recognition of his distinguished public 
career, the House, at the conclusion of these exercises, shall stand 
adjourned. 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the 
Senate. 

Resolved, That the Clerk send a copy of these resolutions to 
the family of the deceased. 

The resolution was unanimously agreed to. 



[8] 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 



Address of Mr. Stephens, of Nebraska 

Mr. Speaker: We have gathered here to-day to pay 
tribute to the memory of one of the grand old men of this 
country, the Hon. James P. Latta, late Member of Con- 
gress from the third Nebraska district. He was born near 
Ashland, Ohio, October 31, 1844, and died at Rochester, 
Minn., where he had undergone a surgical operation, on 
September 11, 1911. He was, therefore, nearly 67 years 
of age at his death. He spent the early part of his life in 
eastern Iowa, and when he was 18 years of age he set 
out for the Territory of Nebraska, traveling alone and on 
foot the 400 miles across Iowa to his future home in Rurt 
County, where he took up a homestead and where he 
lived the remainder of his life. His homestead at his 
death consisted of 3,000 acres of rich Nebraska land lying 
in the valley at the foot of the Missouri River bluffs. On 
the slope of the bluffs he built his first home, overlooking 
the endless miles of rich land untouched by the hand of 
man. From his doorstep he could see the tall wild 
grasses glinting and billowing in the sun for 25 miles 
lying spread out at his feet in a panorama of beauty. It 
was truly a land of magnificent distances and of great 
promise of rich reward to those who would subdue it. 
And to this home he brought his young bride, and there 
in that beautiful environment they reared their two 
splendid sons and have materially aided in the develop- 
ment of a great Commonwealth. 



[9] 



Memorial Addresses : Representative Latta 

Men partake of the character of the country that 
produces them, and it naturally follows, as day follows 
night, that our friend should have been a man of large 
parts. He saw everything in a large way in its relation 
to the country as a whole, rather than how it might affect 
him personally at the time. He was never petty either in 
politics, religion, or business, and never separated his 
interests from that of the community. He grew so rapidly 
in business because of the responsiveness of that 
hospitable land to intelligent effort that in a very short 
time he became a large factor in the county and State, 
not only in business but in politics as well. From a 
farmer, stockman, and beef producer on a large scale he 
became a banker, and later on a member of the house 
and senate in the State legislature. In fact he became the 
financial backbone of his county in times of drought and 
panic when the small men took to cover to protect them- 
selves. In 1893, after a few years of drought, when the 
faith of the hard-pressed farmers was about all oozed 
out, the panic came on to cap the climax. Mr. Latta had 
already about exhausted his resources in backing up his 
faith in the country's future, and this final blow would 
have completely discouraged and driven to cover all but 
the bravest and best. But he never wavered in his faith 
or turned aside in his course. He simply gathered up 
another bunch of farm mortgages and started East on a 
hunt for more money with which to save the farmers 
from utter ruin. By pledging his honor and credit to the 
last dollar he always came back smiling with succor for 
the needy. When the broken and totally discouraged 
farmers, battling against the vicissitudes of nature and 
the cowardly fear of money lenders, would come to him 
he put heart into them and sent them back with the 
assurance that as long as he could hold out he would 
stand by them. No man knows what a friend like that 

[10] 



Address of Mr. Stephens, of Nebraska 

means to him until he has been pressed to the very brink 
and is being pushed off, as were those poor drought- 
stricken farmers in the panic of 1893. 

He was a benefactor to his people and for years after, 
as liquidation was extremely slow, it took all the courage 
he could muster to keep hundreds of discouraged men 
from abandoning their lands and giving up the fight. 
Here is where the devil took our friend up in the moun- 
tain top and showed him an empire he could take posses- 
sion of by the mere acceptance as a gift, what all these 
men wanted to give, to get rid of further struggle against 
what seemed to them great odds. They wanted to turn 
over their lands and cancel the debts. The real test of 
manhood does not come when men are holding positions 
of trust under the public eye. It is easy enough to be a 
man when the band is playing a triumphant march and 
the world is applauding, but it is quite another thing to 
do your duty when you are hard pressed and no one but 
God and yourself are looking on. In such cases even God 
is sometimes forgotten. Yet I am glad to record that our 
friend whose memory we revere to-day stood the test. 
With the mere act of acceptance he could have taken the 
titles to thousands of acres of the richest land in the 
world, but instead he gave these broken-spirited men 
hope to work on, and in a few years the tide turned in 
their favor. 

Caesar put aside the crown offered him by his country- 
men, but the plaudits of the multitude were ringing in his 
ears. But here our dead friend put aside great wealth 
that was being thrust upon him because he believed in the 
Golden Rule and practiced it in his business. He knew 
these broken-spirited men could not get a fair view of 
their situation because of their distress, and he was too 
big to take advantage of them. 



[11] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Latta 

As the years went by and prosperity returned these 
men baptized in the fires of hard times and misfortune 
of every kind began to come into their own, and one by 
one they redeemed their homes and got back their titles 
and never paid a cent of tribute for the splendid service 
this grand old man of Nebraska rendered them. So it 
leads me to say that after all it matters little when a man 
was born or when he died or what station he reached 
in life, but it matters greatly how he lived. The history 
of northeastern Nebraska is largely a history of the life 
and work of Mr. Latta, and when the end came and we 
all gathered around his bier it was largely a gathering of 
those seasoned pioneers who had felt the grip of his 
friendly hand in times of stress — men who had carved 
an empire out of the wilderness and made it into the 
garden spot of the world. 

He was just the sort of man required for the work of 
conquering a new land. He was big and brawny in body 
and clear of mind. Having been born and raised on the 
frontier he had little school advantages, yet, in spite of 
this handicap, he was one of the best-educated men I have 
ever known, according to my own standards of what the 
word education means. If that man is best educated who 
can do the most useful things, then, according to that test, 
our friend had no peer in the West. He has a record of 
accomplishments that very few men possess. He has 
demonstrated his ability to successfully perform every 
class of work from that of a farm hand to that of a legis- 
lator in Congress. There was not a single occupation fol- 
lowed by our people of the West that Congressman Latta 
did not master and could not do better than his fellows. 
He knew the secrets of nature better than any schooled 
scientist knew them, and he knew how to wrest from 
the kindly old earth her glad tribute to those who 
understand her ways. 



[12] 



Address of Mr. Stephens, of Nebraska 

It was a most remarkable gathering of pioneers who 
assembled around his bier when we laid his body away 
on an eminence overlooking the great Valley of the 
Missouri. There he had stood as a boy and viewed the 
splendid prospect with much satisfaction, and there we 
laid his body nearly 50 years afterwards, where the first 
rays of the morning sun would silver the grasses over 
his grave. 

The tribute to his memory paid him by these neighbors 
and friends was the most touching and beautiful I have 
ever witnessed, and it proved beyond a question of doubt 
that the rewards of an honest and unselfish life of service 
are beyond human understanding. It inspired me to 
hope that I might live long enough to be as useful and 
well beloved by my neighbors and countrymen as was he. 

But the finest tribute of all was paid him daily by his 
two splendid sons, in their loyalty and admiration of 
him. These boys, now grown to be busy men of large 
affairs, up to the day of their father's illness were his 
constant companions, and every day of their lives, if 
circumstances permitted, they spent an hour or so with 
their father talking over their affairs, their hopes and 
ambitions. I have never known greater appreciation 
shown a father than these boys showed for theirs. It is 
a touching proof of the great and kindly intelligent soul 
of the man who could command the love and admiration 
of his grown sons in such a manner. 

We can not prove by scientific data what the condition 
of life is on the finer planes of matter where men go after 
they have laid off their earthly garments, but by analogy 
we can approximate it, and it is reasonable to assume 
that the conditions there are closely related to the condi- 
tions here, and that the process of growth continues in an 
unbroken line. That would seem to be a universal law, 
and we need have no fear of crossing this line of 

[13] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Latta 

demarcation. The God of the universe only puts us to 
sleep while the crossing is being made, and I anticipate 
that our dear old friend has found plenty to do in that 
new land across the border. I hope he has found work 
befitting his great strength and courage, and that his life 
will be as useful there as it has been here. 

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to have incor- 
porated in my remarks a biographical sketch of Mr. 
Latta, written by a close personal friend of his and 
published in the Burt County (Nebr.) Herald, and also 
an account of the funeral services. 

The Speaker pro tempore. The gentleman from Ne- 
braska asks unanimous consent to print in the Record 
a biographical sketch and account of the funeral of the 
late Representative Latta. Is there objection? 

There was no objection. 

The biographical sketch and description of the funeral 
of Mr. Latta are as follows : 

In Memory of Congressman Latta 

[By J. R. Sutherland, editor Burt County Herald] 

" Congressman James P. Latta died at 7.20 this evening," was 
the Associated Press dispatch flashed over the wire from Roches- 
ter, Minn., Monday evening that brought deep sorrow into many 
a home in Tekamah, the home town of the deceased. 

It was here where he came when a boy of 18 years. It was 
here where he began life by working by the month, chopping 
wood, breaking prairie, or teaching school. It was here where 
he bought his first 40 acres and built his first cabin. He com- 
menced farming and raising and feeding cattle, at which he was 
very successful. He kept on increasing his land holdings until 
now he owned nearly 3,000 acres. It was here where he engaged 
in the banking business in 1877 and in 1890 organized the First 
National Bank of Tekamah, of which he continued to be presi- 
dent until his death. It was here where he was married Decem- 
ber 29, 1870, to Miss Libbie Jonas, of Jackson County, Iowa, and 
reared and educated their two sons, Ed and Bur, in our schools. 

No man could be held in higher esteem by the people whom 
he associated with all these years than was Mr. Latta. He had 

[14] 



Address of Mr. Stephens, of Nebraska 

their confidence and respect to such an extent that they loved 
to honor him in every way possible. He served the city as 
mayor, councilman, and treasurer; he served the county in the 
legislature in the session of 1887; he was elected State senator 
in 1906, and was a member of that reform session of 1907. It 
was Mr. Latta who introduced the first bill for the present 2-cent 
passenger fare. In public matters he knew no party lines; with 
him it was what is best for the public welfare. He assisted in 
the passage of all reform measures in that memorable session. 
It was his record in the senate that singled him out for his party 
as a winning candidate for Congress in this third congressional 
district in 1908. He was again reelected in 1910 by the largest 
majority ever received by a Congressman in Nebraska. In the 
Masonic order, of which he was an early member of the local 
lodge, he was master for several terms, and he was past high 
priest of the Royal Arch and past commander of the Jordan 
Commandery of Knights Templar. 

We have no gift of eloquence or command of language with 
which to grace a splendid eulogy, ours is the simple tribute of a 
friend — a friend who knows no words commensurate with the 
mighty flood of feeling that surges through his breast. Why 
eulogy? Are not his own life and character his most eloquent 
eulogy? 

When we remember how he succeeded in every field that he 
engaged his interests in and to which he gave his endeavor, when 
we remember bis unswerving loyalty to every cause that he 
espoused, to every promise that he made, to every friend that he 
had, we begin to appreciate his true worth — he was a man made 
to be loved, and he was loved. To-day the world seems to be 
lonesome without him. We miss his kindly face, his cordial 
handclasp, his genial companionship, his helpful counsel. To 
those who knew him as we knew him for more than 40 years, 
he was an unusually lovable man. He was bright, cheery, kind, 
strong, and ever ready to lend a helping hand. Combined with 
these characteristics, he was blessed with good intellectual en- 
dowment, a powerful physique, and a pleasing personality, an 
agreeable voice, and an absolute freedom from affectation. His 
conceptions were quick and remarkably accurate. His judgment 
was uncommonly good of both men and measures. He had a 
wonderful faculty of approaching men, although at times almost 



[15] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Latta 

bluntly, in such a manner as to prepossess them favorably both 
as to himself and his object. Few men have been favored with 
such a rare combination of faculties and powers as he possessed, 
and yet lacked qualities ordinarily deemed indispensable to 
success. 

He was not a scholarly man, nor a student in the ordinary 
sense. At the age of 2 years he came to Jackson County, Iowa, 
with his parents in 1846, which was then the frontier, and his 
education was limited to a few terms in a log schoolhouse. His 
training and experience as a business man enabled him to com- 
prehend accurately and appreciate fully every problem that 
confronted him. He did not pretend to have the powers of the 
college bred; he belonged to an altogether different class of 
men. Although a pleasant and agreeable speaker, capable of 
presenting his views in a logical manner, he made no attempt 
at oratory and did not seek to mold audiences by the persuasive 
powers of eloquence. In Congress he directed his energy in an 
effort to obtain relief from extortion practiced by the eastern 
manufacturer on the western farmer. He was only in Congress 
14 days when he engaged in a spirited debate for the reduction 
of the cost of wire fence. Being a new Member, an effort was 
made to ignore him, but his keen sense of what was right spurred 
him on until he won his point and secured him recognition that 
proved much to his advantage through the entire session. He 
was also very successful in securing increased pensions for old 
soldiers, and at the close of the session the Record showed that 
he had more special pensions allowed than any other Member of 
Congress, and had the honor of being the only Member who 
added an amendment to the Payne-Aldrich tariff bill. He ab- 
horred unfairness; nothing could swerve him from the course 
that his sense of justice and right marked out for him. It was 
this splendid side of his character that so endeared him to his 
fellow men, regardless of political afliliations, and enshrined him 
in their affections. 

The world is better because he lived. So exalted was his 
character, so noble and unselfish were his ambitions, that life 
gave him up reluctantly, and death was proud to take him. But 
death can not take from us the memory of what he was and 
what he did. Men come and go; he alone lives in the hearts 
of his countrymen who truly loves and serves his brother man. 
Though dead, this immortality, this endless life of human heart 
and history, is the supreme, the sovereign reward of James P. 
Latta. 

[16] 



Address of Mr. Stephens, of Nebraska 



FUNERAL OF THE LATE CONGRESSMAN LATTA 

The following report of Congressman Latta's funeral 
is reproduced from the Omaha Daily World-Herald, of 
September 16, 1911, whose special reporter was present 
at the obsequies: 

By the rugged rock of granite that marks the family burial 
lot on the highest point of Tekamah Cemetery the body of Con- 
gressman James P. Latta was buried this afternoon — a place 
typical of the rugged character which had chosen the place in 
years gone by. 

It was after a funeral service such as Tekamah has never known 
before, because Congressman Latta belonged not alone to Teka- 
mah, but to all Nebraska, and from far and near his old friends 
came with sorrowing hearts. The early train from the south 
brought many; two coaches attached to an early afternoon 
freight from the north brought large delegations from Bancroft, 
Lyons, Oakland, and other points; by automobile and carriage 
they arrived by the hundred. 

The funeral service was at the Latta home, where, on the 
large lawn were arranged hundreds of seats and where those 
for whom seats had not been reserved remained standing while 
Canon Marsh, of Blair, said the Episcopal service. A quartet 
composed of Miss Irene Sutherland, Mrs. Neil Cameron, Balph 
D. Colliding, and N. W. Preston, the private secretary of Mr. 
Latta, sang sweetly, " Softly the Day Fades," " In the Hour of 
Trial," " Abide With Me," with Miss Adelaide Thomas at the 
piano. 

The body had rested in the parlor of the old home during 
the day, surrounded by a wondrous gift of flowers and guarded 
by Knights Templar in uniform, while thousands passed by to 
view for the last time the face of their beloved old friend. As 
the hour approached for the funeral service the casket was 
borne to the lawn, where the deceased Congressman had passed 
many happy hours with his family and friends, now meeting 
again to weep where once all had been joy and laughter. 

After the service was taken up the long march over the hills 
to the cemetery, located on the crest of one of them. The Ma- 
sonic fraternity at this moment took charge of the services, 
Tekamah Lodge, No. 31, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of 

93009°— 13 2 [17] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Latta 

which Mr. Latta had been a member for 32 years, of which he 
had been master for two terms and of which he had been treas- 
urer for many years up to the time of his death, Fred Wixer 
now being master. Jordan Commandery of Knights Templar, 
of Blair, of which Mr. Latta was past eminent commander, and of 
which all the Knights Templar are members, was the escort. 
The active pallbearers were: T. A. Minier and Oscar Samson, 
of Oakland; C. A. Darling, of Lyons; E. A. Hansen, of Decatur; 
John Harrington, of Wayne; E. C. Houston, C. Jeep, and L. D. 
Phipps, of Tekamah. The honorary pallbearers were Col. Wel- 
lington Harrington, J. R. Sutherland, R. A. Templeton, sr„ and 
S. T. Story, of Tekamah; Dr. J. B. Whittier, Decatur; Dan V. 
Stephens, Fremont; Charles P. Mathewson, Walthill; James Parry, 
Jackson; Watson Tyson, Blair; J. B. Garland and H. A. Garland, 
who were boyhood friends of the late Congressman, from Jack- 
son County, Iowa. Col. John P. Cameron was marshal. 

The order of march consisted of Jordan Commandery of 
Knights Templar; Tekamah Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted 
Masons; the hearse and pallbearers; relatives and friends in car- 
riages; relatives and friends in automobiles. 

At the cemetery the Masonic burial ritual was observed with 
all of the pathos and impressiveness and tender sentiment pos- 
sible. Robert E. French, grand custodian of the Grand Lodge of 
Nebraska, was in charge of the ceremonials committing the body 
to earth. 

Official recognition of the dead Congressman was given by 
the presence of the entire congressional delegation of Nebraska, 
consisting of Congressmen C. O. Lobeck, of Omaha; John A. 
Maguire, of Lincoln; Charles H. Sloan, of Geneva; Moses P. Kin- 
kaid, of O'Neill; and George W. Norris, of McCook; and Philip 
P. Campbell, of Pittsburg, Kans.; and I. D. Young, of Beloit, Kans., 
appointed members of the House committee by Speaker Clark; 
and by the presence of Nebraska's two United States Senators, 
Norris Brown and G. M. Hitchcock. 

Other men prominent in public life present were: Acting 
Gov. John H. Moorehead, of Falls City; Speaker John Kuhl, of 
Bandolph; Senator George W. Wiltse, of Randolph; Willis D. Reed, 
of Madison; Senator Fred Volpp, of Scribner; Dan V. Stephens, of 
Fremont; Judge W. L. Stark, of Aurora; Gen. John C. Cowin, Wil- 
liam Wallace, B. K. Robison, Robert Robison, Herman Peters, and 
Thomas J. Nolen, all of Omaha; Rev. John F. Poucher, of Stanton; 

[18] 



Address of Mr. Stephens, of Nebraska 

Editors Don C. Van Dusen and Thomas Osterman, and Judge 
Clark O'Hanlion, of Blair; Senator Philip H. Kohl, of Wayne; Col. 
John A. Ehrhart, of Stanton; Col. J. C. Elliott and P. Moodie, of 
West Point; C. E. Bardwell, of Lincoln; Judge Walton and Charles 
Selleek, of Blair; besides many other friends from over the 
county and State. 

The relatives and intimate family friends from abroad were: 
Mr. and Mrs. John Harrington, Mr. Chris Astor, and Mr. and 
Mrs. Dan Harrington, of Wayne; Miss Margaret Latta, Mrs. Byan, 
and Miss Powell, of Omaha; Ed Callery and P. T. Flynn, sons-in- 
law of the late John Latta, of Duncomb, Iowa; J. B. and H. A. Gar- 
land, of Cranston, Iowa; Mrs. Bectol and Mrs. Goza, of Tama, 
Iowa; Dr. N. P. Hansen, of. Elk Creek, Nebr. 

Among the elegant gifts of flowers was a huge shield done in 
colors, the offering of the United States Congress, besides lodge 
offerings and many from friends near and far. 

It was just such a funeral in just such a place as would pull 
the hardest on the heartstrings of the members of the family who 
are left to mourn, as it would bring more vividly to memory the 
tender moments that had been spent on the same spot with the 
deceased in his life. Yet there was something about it — the deep 
shade of the trees, the songs of the birds, the music selected for 
the occasion, the words of the minister, the sorrowing friends, 
the solemnity of the scene — that seemed to designate it as the 
funeral of the deceased and made to be just the kind of a funeral 
he himself would have desired had he been able to plan it for 
himself. 

Those of the immediate family who survive him are: His 
wife and two sons, Ed and Bur; a sister, Miss Louise Latta; and 
a brother, George C. Latta; also a cousin, W. W. Latta, who .has 
during all these years been as a brother, so close have been their 
associations. 



[191 



Address of Mr. Collier, of Mississippi 

Mr. Speaker: It was my good fortune to become inti- 
mately acquainted with Mr. James P. Latta. We entered 
Congress at the same time, and for nearly two years we 
lived at the same hotel. Notwithstanding the difference 
in our ages, a warm and lasting friendship sprang up 
between us. Living under the same roof, seeing him 
nearly every day, I had an opportunity to know his worth 
and appreciate his merits. 

Mr. Latta was a self-made man. He many times re- 
counted to me the hardships and trials of his early life. 
"When a mere boy, he followed the star of empire west- 
ward and, unaided and alone, " exacted from the grasp 
of reluctant fortune " that success which characterized all 
his efforts. 

Prudent, resourceful, painstaking, and honest, it did 
not take Mr. Latta long to acquire what men call a com- 
petency. He was not a brilliant man, nor a great orator, 
but he was rich in that great gift which, for want of a 
better name, is called common sense. When some ques- 
tion would arise in the House affecting the interest of the 
people of his district or that of the people of the entire 
country, I have seen Mr. Latta rise in his seat, and in ear- 
nest tones, and with eloquence born of the justness of 
the cause he was advocating, become convincing, forceful, 
logical, and persuasive. 

He was at all times armed with the courage of his con- 
victions. His pioneer training gave him that self-confi- 
dence with which he met and vanquished the difficulties 
which so often confronted him. 



[20] 



Address of Mr. Collier, of Mississippi 

His fearless nature, his rugged honesty, his independent 
spirit, his plain matter-of-fact manner, his industrious 
habits, his cordial greeting, his genial disposition, his 
innate modesty, his sterling worth, and true merit were 
recognized by all who knew him, and the possession of 
these qualities not alone endeared him to his friends, but 
gained for him an enviable position in the House of Rep- 
resentatives. 

Faithful, conscientious, true to himself and his friends, 
in the fullness of his strength he accomplished his daily 
tasks and performed well his work in this busy world of 
ours. 

He left behind him as a heritage to his family an 
" honest name, the memory of earnest deeds well done." 

Death had no terrors for James Latta. He was firm in 
that faith which is founded upon the Rock of Ages. He 
believed with the poet who said that — 

Death is but an angel, who to man at last his freedom brings; 
And the grave is but a nest in which the soul shall find its wings. 

James P. Latta fought a good fight; he kept the faith; 
he was affectionate to his family; he was true to his 
friends; he was devoted to his country; he was faithful 
to his party and conscientious in his convictions. 

His colleagues sincerely mourn his death, and though 
these historic Halls will echo no more with the sound of 
his voice, and his pleasant smile, his cordial greeting, and 
his hearty handclasp have gone forever, yet he is not 
forgotten. 

Death is a mystery which all the intellectual forces of 
mankind have vainly endeavored to solve. 

The lips of the young inquiring " whence " and the old asking 
" whither " are alike unanswered. 

Why some are called in the early morning of youth and 
some fall asleep in the evening of their days we know' 
not; we can but wonder. 

[21] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Latta 

When childhood, tender childhood, meets the dread 
messenger, though our hearts may be torn with grief, 
yet we are comforted by the thought that, safe from life's 
trials and temptations and hardships, ignorant even of 
the knowledge of evil, the little ones sleep secure in the 
Master's arms. When death halts the faltering steps of 
old age, we draw some comfort from the knowledge that 
threescore years and ten is the allotment for usefulness 
here on earth. But when the bitter stroke descends un- 
expected, unannounced, upon vigorous manhood, we 
stand appalled, our hearts are troubled, and we wonder 
why this should be. But in this hour of doubt and trouble 
and grief there comes to comfort the aching heart " the 
divine assurance that He doeth all things well." 

For 'tis idle to talk of the future, the sad might have been mid 

our tears. 
God knew all about it, yet took him away from the oncoming 

years. 
God knows all about those that love Him; how bitter this parting 

must be. 
And yet through it all God is loving and knows so much better 

than we. 



[22] 



Address of Mr. Rainey, of Illinois 

Mr. Speaker: We have assembled here to-day to do 
honor to one who in all the affairs of life in which he 
participated discharged his full duty as a public servant 
and as an honest man. James P. Latta was born 68 years 
ago on a farm near Ashland, Ohio. He came from a race 
of sturdy pioneers. He belonged to that class of our 
citizens which pushed sturdily forward ahead of the 
march of civilization, which for a hundred years came 
down our rivers in flatboats and through our long forest 
avenues in oxcarts, pushing always forward toward the 
undeveloped sections of the great West. While he was 
yet a child, his parents yielded again to the call of the 
West, and in the old, primitive way which characterized 
the westward march of the early settlers, moved across 
the States of Indiana and Illinois, then being rapidly 
settled up, across the great river which flows through the 
center of the country, and found a home on its western 
bank in the State of Iowa. They were among the very 
earliest pioneers in that section of the country. 

Here young Latta grew to manhood, working on a 
farm during the spring and summer and fall — and farm 
work in those days was the hardest kind of toil — acquir- 
ing in the winter time, in a district school, the rudiments 
of the education which he afterwards developed in the 
hard school of practical everyday life. When he attained 
the age of 19 years, the call of the West came again to 
him. The section of Iowa in which he lived had rapidly 
settled up. He started out on foot and traveled alone 
across the great State, having in view, as he often told me 
himself, but one definite object — the finding of a new 

[23] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Latta 

country with fertile soil and those natural advantages 
which could be developed by the population he felt sure 
would settle there. 

An old friend of his in a Mississippi River town had 
given him this advice : 

If you ever go farther west, travel until you reach a river and 
then settle on its western bank. The most important towns and 
cities in the interior of the country along the rivers which flow 
south are on the western banks of those rivers, and the most 
valuable land is there. 

With this advice to guide him, before he attained his 
majority, with no money in his pockets, with no capital 
except his own buoyant spirits, his own hopeful dispo- 
sition, his splendid, vigorous health, and his hard com- 
mon sense, he started on his long inarch toward the West, 
until finally he reached the Missouri River; and, following 
the advice of his old friend, he crossed the river, and 
on the other side, in the Territory of Nebraska, he made 
his home. 

He took up a homestead and commenced to develop it. 
Seven years later he married an Iowa girl, who stood by 
his side during the years that followed, fighting with him 
the hard battle of life on a Nebraska farm. Prosperity 
came to them as the years passed. He accpiired more and 
more land; the land he acquired increased in value under 
his skillful methods of development, until finally, at the 
time of his death, he had accumulated for himself and 
his wife and his children a comfortable fortune. He 
organized the First National Rank of Tekamah, now one 
of the strong financial institutions of that section of 
Nebraska. He represented his district in the State 
legislature and in the State senate, and was finally elected 
to Congress. 

He journeyed toward the West across the State of Iowa 
ahead of the railroads. He lived long enough to see the 

[24] 



Address of Mr. Rainey, of Illinois 



Territory in which he settled grow into one of our 
greatest States. He saw the section which he selected as 
his home develop until on every hand there were culti- 
vated farms, thriving villages, towns, and cities, and a 
happy, cultured, prosperous, contented population. 

He discharged his full duty in all the walks of life — 
loved by his family and the citizens of the community in 
which he lived, respected by all who lived within his 
adopted State. I knew him during the entire period of 
his service in Congress. Early in our acquaintance I 
learned to admire his rugged honesty and his keen 
perception of the duties of the high office he filled so 
well. I knew him better than most Members of Congress, 
and I profited many times by his judgment in important 
matters of legislation. 

He belonged to that type of men who have made this 
Nation great. He served courageously, honorably, and 
honestly the people of his State. He was a good citizen, 
a faithful, honest public servant, a kind husband and 
father, a true friend. He discharged with honor to 
himself and his family and neighbors and friends all the 
duties imposed upon him in the many years of his active, 
useful life. He possessed the confidence of men; he 
never betrayed those who believed in him. He was my 
friend; I desire to add my tribute to his memory. 



[25] 



Address of Mr. Sharp, of Ohio. 

Mr. Speaker: During the past four years, which meas- 
ure the length of my service in this honorable body, the 
hand of death has visited with unusual frequency its 
membership. In looking over the personnel of those who 
have been taken from among us we have been made pain- 
fully aware of the fact that those whose services to their 
country in these legislative halls could be least spared, 
and whose association with their colleagues has been 
most helpful, have been conspicuous. Though on account 
of the brevity of his service he was not so prominent as 
some of those whose deaths we have come to mourn, yet 
James P. Latta, even in the brief period of his member- 
ship in this House, not only endeared himself to his asso- 
ciates but left upon them his impress as a man of sterling 
worth and unusually good judgment. Assiduous and con- 
scientious in the discharge of his duties, he reflected the 
highest credit upon his constituency. 

Early attracted to him by his genial manner, I had an 
added interest in his career from the fact that he was 
born in Ashland County, Ohio, which forms a part of the 
district which I have the honor to represent. While the 
element of environment has necessarily an important 
influence upon the career of all men, yet to that of 
heredity must still be credited the greatest force in giving 
vent to and shaping that career. I think this must have 
been essentially true of the one whose death we mourn 
to-day, for the Lattas of Ashland County, and the branches 
of that family tree, were people of sterling worth and 
character. The stock from which he descended was, I 
take it, typically representative of the so-called Pennsyl- 

[26J 



Address of Mr. Sharp, of Ohio 



vania Dutch families who have eontrihuted so much to 
the prosperity and good name of that splendid county. 
Though he moved, with his parents, to the West early in 
life, yet it is easy to imagine that the sturdy characteristics 
of such people well fitted him for the hardy undertakings 
which confronted the western settler of 60 years ago. 
Indeed, we could hardly expect any other result from the 
life work of such a man than the achievements which 
were his and which were so signally recognized by the 
people among whom he lived. 

While it is difficult, in a comparative sense, to measure 
the value of the work of Members of this House, yet there 
can be no such thing as relativity in those traits which 
make for integrity of character and personal honor. It 
is a wise dispensation of Providence which endows men 
with different abilities and varied attributes. The varie- 
ties of the fields of usefulness could hardly take a wider 
range than is exemplified by the services of the Members 
of this House, and perhaps in no other assembly of men 
is the value of such service more accurately gauged than 
by its membership. To some are given that power of 
fluency of speech sufficient to exert a potent influence in 
shaping important measures which come up for discus- 
sion upon the floor of the House. With the keenest logic 
and most forceful rhetoric, fallacious theories are ex- 
posed, while to others to whom such endowments have 
been denied are left the more plodding but not less useful 
work of framing the essentials of legislative work in the 
committees. It is in this latter field that our late friend 
and associate must have been of much practical service, 
for his experience in agricultural pursuits and wide 
acquaintance in that work which still has to do with the 
consideration and treatment of the rights of our Indian 
population was intimate and accurate. 



[27] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Latta 

There is another phase to be considered in connection 
with men in public life beyond that of mere capacity for 
usefulness. Is it too much to say that fundamentally in 
the appreciation of a Member's work lies that element 
of genuineness of character and integrity of conduct? 
Judged by this criterion, our friend who has gone before, 
whose death we mourn and in whose praise we speak 
to-day, stood very high in the estimation of his colleagues. 
With him, even in this day, when party ties bind so lightly 
and partisanship is almost a thing of the past, his attitude 
upon all public questions was singularly free from bias 
and prejudice. His was truly a high conception of the 
duties of his office. The membership of this House never 
had a more faithful coworker nor American citizenship a 
higher standard of fidelity to its best interest. Though it 
was not vouchsafed to him to occupy a conspicuous place 
in our country's affairs — for he was rather a private in the 
ranks of duty — yet in all the essentials that constitute the 
warp and woof of manhood's structure none possessed 
them in a higher degree. Truly, in his death not only the 
people of Nebraska have lost a faithful Representative, 
but his colleagues a kindly friend. 



[28] 



Address of Mn. Kopp, of Wisconsin 

Mr. Speaker: James P. Latta, in whose memory we 
have assembled to-day, was born in Ohio in 1814. Ohio 
at that time was of the older civilization. When but a 
child of 2 years his parents moved to Iowa and became 
pioneers in that Territory. As the settlers increased and 
the land went under the dominion of man's labor the 
spirit of the pioneer moved James P. Latta, then a boy of 
18, to again turn his face toward the setting sun. It was 
during the dark days of the great War between the States, 
when the land was stirred with civil strife. With in- 
domitable courage and a determined perseverance this 
boy started for the Territory of Nebraska, walking the 
entire distance. The pioneer will always do his part 
when he has nature's heritage — 

Stout muscles and a sinewy heart, 
A hardy frame and a hardier spirit; 

King of his two hands, he does his part 
In every useful toil and art. 

The spirit of the pioneer has been the motive power of 
our civilization. It seems to have been an instinct in the 
Caucasian race. We know not what developed it in the 
centuries past, but we do know that it led our people from 
their original home in Asia across mountains and sea, over 
river and plain, ever and ever to the westward. Meeting 
every obstacle, enduring every hardship, overcoming 
every impediment, it reached our Atlantic seaboard; from 
thence, with renewed determination, it again moved to 
the westward; heeding not the war cry of the savage, the 
stealth of the wild beasts, nor the hardships of nature, 
it went on and on to the rolling Pacific, leaving in its wake 



[29] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Latta 



fertile plains, beautiful cities, and happy homes. The 
pioneer sowed the seed. Those of us who are so fortu- 
nate as to live in this century are reaping the harvest. In 
the State of Nebraska James P. Latta was a pioneer. 

Here he lived and here he died; here he married and 
reared his family; here he received the bountiful return 
of nature for his hard labor and accumulated a compe- 
tency; here he received the plaudits of his neighbors and 
was repeatedly honored by them in being sent to both 
houses of the State legislature and the Sixty-first and 
Sixty-second Congresses. This tells the general story of 
his span of life. 

One of the greatest blessings of our system of govern- 
ment is that an open door and a free field is constantly 
before all our sons and daughters. The humblest, the 
lowest, may ascend to the highest field of usefulness and 
success. The poorest boy with a clear conscience, a rug- 
ged body, a vigorous mind, and a stout heart has no limi- 
tations. Merit — intrinsic merit — is what finally prevails. 
Mr. Latta possessed these qualities of heart, of soul, and 
of mind. He made a success of everything he undertook, 
because to him failure was unknown. In his lexicon there 
was no such word as "can't." 

It was my good fortune on coming to Washington at the 
opening of the Sixty-first Congress to be thrown in close 
touch with James P. Latta and his devoted wife. While 
he was my senior by many years, we became close friends. 
1 grew to love him as a father, and when I learned that 
the angel of death had summoned him it seemed as 
though one of close kin had been taken away. Death is 
always an unwelcome guest, and to James P. Latta an 
unannounced one. Strong and vigorous of stature, it was 
little dreamed by those who knew him best that a dreaded 
malady had fastened upon him its poisonous fangs. He 
was hurried to the greatest hospital in the world, but 

[30] 



Address of Mr. Kopp, of Wisconsin 



there told that life was his hut a few weeks longer. With 
that fortitude which had characterized the every act of 
his life he prepared for his departure to the unknown 
world from whose bourn no traveler returns. He had 
lived his life well; he had performed every duty to the 
best of his ability and went to the future with no dread, 
save that dread of parting from those who were near and 
dear to him. 

Our congressional life has many joys and pleasures, 
many sorrows and vicissitudes. Most that we say here 
will never be heeded; much that we do here will soon be 
forgotten; but one thing will never — no, never — perish — 
sweet friendship, the most delightful relationship of life, 
will remain like the evergreen and leave us only when 
body and soul are parted. James P. Latta has gone, but 
the memories of his friendship will be with us forever. 

Farewell : A word that has been and must be 
A word that makes us linger — yet — farewell. 



[31] 



Address of Mr. Foster, of Illinois 

Mr. Speaker: I am honored by being able to say some- 
thing of the life and character of Hon. James P. Latta, 
formerly a Member of this House. 

On Mr. Latta's entrance into Congress it was my for- 
tune to become acquainted with him immediately, and I 
lived in the same house with him during his entire service 
in the House of Representatives. 

Mr. Latta was of that pioneer, rugged stock that knew 
what it was to fight for what you get in life. He was 
deprived of an education, except what he could secure at 
the public schools of that early time. His education, 
though, was the learning of good common sense, honesty, 
industry, and integrity. 

When a young man, scarcely 19 years of age, he left his 
home in Iowa and all that was dear to him then, and 
started across the country afoot, traveling several hun- 
dred miles, settling in the Territory of Nebraska, there to 
seek his fortune and make his way in the world. 

We who have not had that experience little realize 
what it means to go out into a new country and make a 
home. I have always felt that those who go into the 
wilderness, go into a new country, and blaze the way, 
deserve great credit. It is an easier thing to follow the 
trail after it has been blazed than it is to start out and 
make the trail. Mr. Latta, having industry, integrity, 
and character and force of determination to win, did win 
in his new home and became one of the prominent citi- 
zens of that great State. He was honored by the people 
of his State by being elected to the lower house of the 
legislature, and on his election to Congress he was then a 



[32 



Address of Mr. Foster, of Illinois 



member of the State senate of Nebraska. In these posi- 
tions he showed his worth as a man. He stood for the 
right of the people; he knew what it was to struggle. He 
knew what it was to be poor, and when he became inde- 
pendent, so far as this world's goods are concerned, he 
did not forget those less fortunate, and his sympathy was 
always with them. 

As a Member of this House he discharged his duties 
with great credit, which was reflected upon his district, 
upon the State, and upon the Nation. He took an interest 
in public affairs and was always at his post of duty, 
ready to discharge whatever duties might be necessary 
to be performed as a Member of this House. I feel that 
the Nation has been honored by the election of such a 
man as James P. Latta to Congress. It is to be regretted 
that he did not live long enough to serve his term and pass 
to higher honors in the State and the Nation, where he 
might be of even greater service to the people. 

His domestic life was of the happiest. He was a devoted 
husband and father and took great delight in the com- 
pany of his family, and he was happy when he was with 
them. He always tried to make the life of his devoted 
wife one of pleasure, and she was his constant companion. 

And so, my friends, we can offer but little comfort to 
the sorrowing family in the loss of this dear man, but we 
can offer them the hope that when they look above and 
beyond this life they will some day meet the husband and 
the father there; because we read in the Good Book that 
it is said, " I will go and prepare a place for you," and I 
believe that James P. Latta's spirit rests with his Maker 
above, and that when his spirit ascended on high was 
received, it was said, " Well done, thou good and faithful 
servant; enter thou into the joy of the Lord." 



93009°— 13 3 [33] 



Address of Mr. Cullop, of Indiana 

Mr. Speaker: The frequency of such occasions as has 
called this House together to-day admonishes us of the 
uncertainty of life and the irrevocable fate of all hu- 
manity. Travel as man may and the same fate is his 
ultimate destiny, from which there is no rescue. 

James P. Latta, whose memory we have convened to 
honor, has traveled the great highway of life from one 
terminal to the other, and entered into the enjoyment of 
his well-earned reward. His was an unusual life, full 
of the experiences which few men have enjoyed. Twice 
a pioneer on the western frontier, he bore witness to the 
marvelous development which has transpired in the last 
half century in a great and growing section of our country. 

Born in the State of Ohio, at the age of 3 years his 
parents moved with him to the far distant Iowa, then the 
western limit of civilization, and there began the life of a 
pioneer. He was reared among the hazards and dangers 
of frontier life until he was about 20 years of age, when he 
resolved to move westward and become a pioneer on his 
own responsibility. Not a single mile of railroad or tele- 
graph had been built west of the Missouri Rivei*, and the 
prairie schooner and stagecoach on the old National Trail 
were the only means of transportation which invaded that 
boundless territory, with its inexhaustible resources, 
awaiting the advent of a civilized people to open nature's 
great storehouses. 

Before he had attained his majority, armed with daunt- 
less courage, supported by stalwart manhood and a fixed 
determination, he started for the frontier in northern 
Nebraska to found a home and carve out a fortune for 



[34] 



Address of Mr. Ctllop, of Indiana 



himself. He had been educated in the great school of 
human experience, with limited facilities to cultivate his 
mind and but few opportunities to apply the fragmentary 
rudiments of the meager education afforded the old set- 
tlers. For 200 miles he penetrated the West on foot, 
seeking the place of his future home, where he lived until 
he died. He was one of the first settlers who carried the 
flickering lamp of civilization into that land where the 
painted and plumed barbarian held undisputed sway, that 
its feeble rays might radiate over the expansive prairies 
and announce the beginning of a new era. He built his 
home with the hostile Indians as his only neighbor, where 
the moan of the buffalo, the howl of the wolf, and the 
scream of the eagle alone broke the silent vigils of the 
long weary nights. 

His pioneer cabin was home, and around it the winds 
which swept the broad untamed prairies sang requiems 
to break the monotony of slowly speeding time. But 
time worked its weary way, and the civilization, of which 
he was the advance guard, came trooping along in its 
westward march, and the uncivilized red man reluctantly, 
like the Arab, folded his tent and moved along toward 
the setting sun. As the processes of a never-ceasing 
evolution unfolded its progress before him for review, 
he saw the Indian villages disappear, and towns and 
cities — hives of human industry and thrift — erected on 
their ruins; he saw the wigwam decay and the home of 
the sturdy settler take its place; the schoolhouse and the 
church builded for the diffusion of knowledge and 
civilization, and the arts of peace supplant the habits and 
customs of barbarism. He saw the great prairies over 
which herds of wild beasts had fed and roamed reduced 
to cultivation and produce beyond the sanguine expecta- 
tions of the most optimistic; he saw the dry and parched 
desert drink of the living waters of the streams flowing 



[35] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Latta 

along their borders and become rich and fertile lands, 
teeming with products to supply the wants of the people 
at home, and furnish a surplus to swell the markets in 
distant sections and aid the ever-growing commerce of a 
mighty people in the greatest country on the globe. 

All these occurred within his time, passed under his 
review like a panorama, and in their marvelous growth 
he had been a potent factor, and in the important part he 
had played in this wonderful transformation, this great 
and good work, his people recognized his merit, his real 
worth, and confided greater responsibilities to him. They 
elected him to represent them in their State legislature, 
where he acquitted himself so satisfactorily that they 
chose him to represent them in the State senate, and for 
his faithful attention and splendid work they called him 
twice to serve them in the United States Congress, which 
he was doing when his untimely end came. In every 
public capacity he was the same true and faithful public 
servant and never betrayed their confidence or forfeited 
their esteem. 

His experience, covering the many stations he had 
occupied from a pioneer homesteader to the position of 
a man of wealth and influence and high public position, 
enabled him to understand the various wants of the 
people engaged in various vocations, and his sturdy char- 
acter and unflinching integrity made him a positive force 
in advocating the cause of his constituency, which he ably 
and faithfully did as a Member of this body. 

The pioneer is rapidly passing from among us; soon, 
ah, much too soon, we will know him no more. Their 
places will not be easily filled. They were heroes whose 
virtues should be extolled. Their contribution to civiliza- 
tion, to the country's progress, deserves particular atten- 
tion, and their characters, standing out boldly among the 



[36] 



Address of Mr. Cillop, of Indiana 



most useful the country has produced, should be im- 
pressed upon posterity as great, good, and patriotic. But 
few, if any, can excel them; their work speaks for itself, 
and we are forcibly reminded of their wise endeavors 
in every institution in our common country as the product 
of their handiwork. 

Their work, unaided by example or experience from 
which they could pattern, dedicated to the foundation of 
a new civilization, the organization of society, and the 
creation of a new Government, called for the exercise 
of the best faculties of the head and heart, and the truest 
wisdom with which man could be endowed, the highest 
order of integrity and patriotism the world could fur- 
nish, in order that what they created might meet the 
requirements of succeeding ages and measure up to the 
responsibilities which the future would demand of them. 
Imbued with this great responsibility, penetrating the 
darkness in which the future was veiled, estimating with 
almost mathematical certainty the marvelous progress 
which would follow their endeavor, they accomplished 
their work with such wonderful accuracy, with such un- 
selfish patriotism and untiring devotion to public welfare, 
that it has adequately performed every purpose to which 
it was dedicated, and as time unfolds the secrets hidden 
from view, their wisdom and capacity is the more firmly 
established and revealed. 

We venerate the names of our military heroes and 
great statesmen by the erection of monuments and statues 
to show our appreciation of their great services to their 
country; we signalize their achievements in story and 
song; we glorify their virtues by emulating their ex- 
amples, but we have failed to pay the proper amount of 
attention, I fear, to the sturdy characters of our pioneers, 
who, amid the dangers and hardships formed settlements, 



F37] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Latta 

established civilization, and founded social government 
among hostile foes and conquered the enemies of 
progress. 

To them the country's posterity for all time owes a debt 
of gratitude which it can never pay. The sturdy pioneer 
performed a work which redounds to his glory, erected 
for himself a monument in the hearts of the people which 
will endure long after monuments of marble and statues 
of brass have crumbled to dust and have perished from 
the minds of men. His work was dedicated to the uplift 
of humanity, and an appreciative posterity will regard it 
as the greatest heritage ever bequeathed to the human 
race. Time will not diminish its importance, the people 
can not underestimate its value, and the future will keep 
secure their fame and revere their precious memories. 
In the demise of our lamented colleague a pioneer has 
fallen and the country suffers because of his removal, 
but his example is left as a precious legacy to his family 
and friends. " Peace to his ashes." 



[38] 



Address of Mr. Stephens, of Texas 

Mr. Speaker: The Members of this House are once 
more called upon to mourn the loss of one of its most 
useful Members — Hon. James P. Latta, of Tekamah, 
Nebr. — near the close of the Sixty-first Congress. He 
represented the third congressional district of Nebraska, 
having received 26,832 votes to 24,865 cast for his Repub- 
lican opponent, Hon. John F. Boyd, in a district that had 
for many years been a strong Republican district. Mr. 
Latta was a member of the State senate at the time of 
his election to this House. Who has not observed the 
wonderful, although undefinable, power some men 
possess over their fellows? Is it personal magnetism or 
electricity, or is it to be found in what we sometimes hear 
called electrobiology or mesmerism? Is it the mysterious 
force of the human will? Is it a secret or unknown power 
which the human mind can not understand? Whatever 
it may be, this power was possessed by Congressman 
Latta in a remarkable degree. He drew men to him by 
his earnest, direct, and convincing manner. It has been 
truthfully said that an honest man is the noblest work 
of God. The honesty and integrity of Mr. Latta were 
unquestioned, and impressed themselves on the voters of 
his district and his associates in this House in so convinc- 
ing a manner that they regarded him as one of God's 
noblemen. And for this reason we who knew him best 
as a Member of this House reverence his memory the 
most. Mr. Latta was a good father, husband, friend, and 
legislator, and always so impressed himself on his 
associates. I served on the same committee — the Com- 
mittee on Indian Affairs — with him, and he was my close 

[39] 



Memorial Addresses : Representative Latta 

personal friend and party associate, and there was no 
man on the committee for whom I had a higher personal 
regard. He possessed a remarkably clear judgment on 
all business affairs, having been a very successful man 
himself. He very readily grasped the many business 
matters coming before our committee relating to Indian 
affairs. He was regarded as one of the safest and best 
legislators on the committee. 

Mr. Latta was born near Ashland, Ohio, and when 2 
years old his father removed to eastern Iowa, being one 
of the earliest pioneers of that country. His father was 
a farmer, and young Latta worked on the farm during 
crop seasons, and attended school during the winter 
months, where he acquired his limited education. In 
1863, at the age of 19 years, he emigrated to Nebraska, 
where he lived at the time of his death. He walked 
several hundred miles in making this change of resi- 
dence. There were no railroads in this country at that 
time, and Nebraska was then a Territory'. Mr. Latta was 
a pioneer and an original homesteader of Nebraska, and 
grew up and prospered with his State. Mr. Latta is the 
only Congressman I ever knew who moved to strike from 
a bill under consideration in the House an appropriation 
of money to be expended in his State. Yet this is exactly 
what he did on February 1, 1910. Page 1345 of the 
Congressional Record shows that the Clerk read the 
following clause in the Agriculture appropriation bill: 

Nebraska National Forest Reserve, §18,250. 

Mr. Latta rose and said: 

Mr. Chairman, I move to strike out the last word. I have 
listened yesterday and to-day to this discussion about the ap- 
propriations for these national forest reserves. In my State 
of Nebraska you appropriate $18,000 for the maintenance of a 
national reserve. You can buy all the timber on that reserve for 
less than §5,000. You can not propagate timber there, because 



[40] 



Address of Mr. Stephens, of Texas 

the reserve is leased to sheepmen, and the sheep eat off every 
bush that grows. I agree with the gentleman from Wyoming 
[Mr. Mondell] that these appropriations seem extravagant, 
unreasonable, and uncalled for. We commenced in 1901 with 
an appropriation of $90, 000. In nine years we have increased it 
to $5,000,000. Now, what have we got for it? Are we making 
parks or pleasure reserves, or are we trying to propagate and 
increase the growth of timber? If we are trying to increase the 
growth of timber, we are also leasing these reserves to men 
who are grazing sheep, goats, and cattle and horses on them, 
and thereby destroying every small tree and bush. Now, the 
two things do not work together. It is unwarranted extrava- 
gance and misjudgment, in my opinion. I am not criticizing 
the members of this committee, but are the people getting value 
received for the money expended? It looks to me as though 
they are not. 

Mr. Latta then offered an amendment to strike out this 
Nebraska appropriation, but his amendment was defeated 
by other Members of Congress from Nebraska. But this 
incident shows the self-denial and honesty of purpose of 
our deceased friend. Refusing this needless, in my judg- 
ment, appropriation of public funds places Mr. Latta in 
a class by himself. 

Mr. Latta did not believe in landlordism and was op- 
posed to large landed estates, and believed that some 
equitable means should be devised of dividing them up 
into small holdings, so that the tenants on large farms 
and ranches and Indian and other land reservations could 
become the owners of small tracts by making small 
annual payments therefor. He said that he would be 
glad to divide up his own large farm and ranch property 
in the same way, and that he had often advanced money 
to young tenants on his ranches to pay for their land on 
the annual installment plan. The members of our com- 
mittee valued very highly the advice given us by this 
excellent business man and kind-hearted philanthropist 



[41] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Latta 

in regard to the best disposition of the large Indian landed 
estates of the West. 

Mr. Latta was born, lived, and died on the outskirts of 
American civilization, where he helped to settle and civi- 
lize one of the best States in the Union. All honor to this 
old sturdy pioneer, statesman, loving husband, kind and 
indulgent father, safe adviser, and faithful friend. This 
fast-fading school of old pioneers may well be de- 
scribed as — 

Tall and strong, and swift of foot were they, 

Beyond the dwarfing city's pale abortions; 

Because their thoughts had never been the prey 

Of care or gain: the green woods were their portions. 

No sinking spirits told them they grew gray; 

No fashion made them apes of her distortions. 

Simple they were, not savage; and their rifles, 

Though very true, were not yet used for trifles. 

Motion was in their days, rest in their slumbers, 
And cheerfulness the handmaid of their toil; 
Nor yet too many nor too few their numbers, 
Corruption could not make their hearts her soil. 
The lust which stings, the splendor which encumbers, 
With the free foresters divide no spoil. 
Serene nor sullen were the solitudes 
Of this unsighing people of the West. 



[42] 



Address of Mr. Maguire, of Nebraska 

Mr. Speaker: We have laid aside the usual routine 
of public business and assemble here this afternoon to 
pay a brief tribute to the life and services of a late 
Member and our lamented colleague, Hon. James P. Latta. 

He was born near Ashland, Ohio, October 31, 1844, and 
when a child of but 2 years of age he moved with his par- 
ents to the eastern part of the Territory of Iowa. He grew 
to manhood with much the same training and surround- 
ings as other boys of his time — working on his father's 
farm and attending district school during the winter 
months. In 1863, before overland railroads were con- 
structed, he traveled across Iowa and into Nebraska Ter- 
ritory, where he located on a Government homestead in 
Burt County, near the Missouri River and close to the 
present town of Tekamah. He lived on this farm, which 
has been enlarged to 3,000 acres, and in the town of Teka- 
mah till his death on September 11, 1911. A few weeks 
before his death he sought relief for stomach trouble and 
underwent an operation, from which he never recovered. 
He leaves in his immediate family a widow and two sons 
to mourn his loss. 

While we are eulogizing the memory of Mr. Latta here 
in this House more particularly from the point of view of 
his public service, still I can not fail to recall the more 
realistic and vivid story of his life as told by his friends 
and neighbors at his home on the day of his funeral, 
which I attended as one of the official congressional party. 
The people had gathered there not only from among his 
neighbors and fellow townsmen, but also from many parts 
of the State to pay their respects to a departed friend. 



[43] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Latta 

Each one in that gathering felt a personal loss in Mr. 
Latta's death. The simple but eloquent story of his 
everyday life was in the minds and upon the lips of the 
thousands of those who knew almost his every deed and 
act and thought. To them his life was an open book, 
and in it they prided themselves in having a part. Friends 
vied with each other in relating his many acts of charity, 
kindness, and early sacrifice. The people of his district 
had implicit confidence in his honesty, his industry, and 
his ability. To travel with him over his large district 
seemed like going through his own neighborhood, where 
each one had a personal interest in his welfare and all 
knew him as " Uncle Jim Latta." 

Mr. Latta was a man of simple tastes and democratic 
in manner and sympathy. Because of his companionable 
disposition, large experience, and good judgment it was 
indeed a pleasure and a profit to accept his hospitality. 
Entering Congress at the same time and living at the 
same hotel, I found it a privilege to have the advantage 
of his association. Although a man of strong convictions, 
still he was tolerant and charitable in thought and 
accorded to others the right to follow their own stand- 
ards of right living. His long experience gave him a keen 
insight into the problems and trials which multiply 
around the average man. When there was conflict of 
ideas among men he saw and understood how honest 
differences of opinion might arise among many minds 
and diversity of environment. He did not fail to take the 
larger view of life. He was an optimist and had unfalter- 
ing faith in the future. Courage and hope rather than 
fear and despair characterized his attitude toward life. 
Integrity of word and action made him understood by all, 
and you always knew what he meant by what he said. 
Physically he was large, strong, and rugged, and con- 
served to the last his energies. Temperate in all his per- 

[44] 



Address of Mr. Maguire, of Nebraska 



sonal conduct and habits, he was able, therefore, to lead 
an active and strenuous life to the very close. While he 
directed most of his efforts to the building up and 
development of the new country and to the care of his 
increasing properties, still he had been the recipient, 
more particularly in later years, of many public honors, 
which he modestly accepted. In 1887 he represented 
his district in the lower house of the Nebraska State 
Legislature and in 1907 was a member of the State 
senate. In 1908 he was elected as a Democrat from the 
third Nebraska district to the Sixty-first Congress and 
was reelected to the Sixty-second Congress. Where he 
played the larger part, I believe, was as a pioneer and 
Nation builder. He was contemporaneous with the last 
and greatest epoch of our history which compre- 
hended our industrial and civic expansion and growing 
nationality. 

The rounded character of the man made it possible 
for him to become a potential force in our industrial 
expansion, while his constructive nature helped in the 
organization of political society. When he reached 
Nebraska Territory he found the Indian and buffalo in 
possession, with only a few scattered settlements of white 
men. Natural obstacles in the new country yielded 
slowly at first. The blizzards, droughts, grasshopper 
pests, and hard times made up some of the conditions 
which tried the courage of men, and many were the 
pioneers who were compelled to surrender the heroic 
struggle. But with Mr. Latta he refused to yield and 
ultimately reaped a comfortable reward, but not more 
than he deserved. He was a man who was not satisfied 
with meeting simple situations, but insisted on over- 
coming great obstacles. When he had passed from the 
stage of poverty and hardships he did not forget nor 
cease to help those who still suffered through misfortune. 

[45] 



Memorial Addresses : Representative Latta 

He gave freely to those in need and without any assur- 
ance or guaranty of return. While he lived his later 
years in the new surroundings, still he felt the early spirit 
and sympathized with the old conditions. When he was 
called into the larger activities of life and the complex 
problems of expanding business he never forgot the joys 
and sorrows of his friends and neighbors. While his 
congressional career was not long, still it was an enduring 
one of splendid service. He was a constant attendant at 
his committees and in the House and to all his congres- 
sional duties up to the time of his last illness. His large 
fund of information and practical experience were 
brought to bear in the examination of every question, 
and in the material and economic development he spoke 
with some authority. He held a high conception of the 
public service and left the impress of his life and 
character as a contribution to the parliamentary history 
of his country. He ceased to act and laid down life's 
activities only when the ministering angel of death 
approached. When the soul of this man passed to its 
Creator and the earth closed in upon all that was mortal 
of James P. Latta, then ended the career of a Christian 
soldier, a true man, and an honorable public servant. 



[46] 



Address of Mr. Kinkaid, of Nebraska 

Mr. Speaker: As a Member from the great agricultural 
State of Nebraska, which sent James P. Latta to Congress, 
I desire also to acid tribute to his memory. My remarks 
will not be based upon a long and intimate personal 
acquaintance. Though I had been a resident of Nebraska 
for nearly 30 years, I had not actually become personally 
acquainted with Mr. Latta until I met him here in Wash- 
ington as Member elect of the third Nebraska district. 
But, Mr. Speaker, energetic and enterprising men, who 
for years have helped to build up and advance their com- 
munities, their home towns, counties, and States, become 
known for their citizenship; they gain a reputation which 
makes them known farther and wider than it is prac- 
ticable, even, to one with much travel to extend his 
acquaintance. A man may do so little as never to be 
heard of beyond the confines of his small community. 
On the other hand, he may achieve so much as to become 
widely and favorably known for his great value as a 
citizen, by reputation merely, throughout a great country 
like ours and even beyond the seas. Latta was so much a 
part of his part of Nebraska that its history could not be 
written without making him, among its other strong 
pioneers, one of the principal factors. 

Thus it was that for nearly 30 years before I met him 
here as a Representative of his district I had known him 
well by his well-earned reputation as one of the leading 
men and citizens, not only of his home county, but of 
the territory which comprises the congressional district 
he so ably and faithfully represented. We had seldom 
caught sight of each other in Nebraska from the circum- 

[47] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Latta 

stance that we lived on different railway lines which car- 
ried ns to the metropolis and to the capital of the State 
and, in a measure, that we were not both Democrats. 
It was on account of what Mr. Latta was doing as a busi- 
ness man — a large landowner and farmer, a breeder of 
pure-bred and high-grade live stock, a leading, active, 
and popular banker, and a Democratic political factor — 
that, incidentally, I came to know him by reputation. If 
prominent farmers and live-stock raisers were being 
talked of, Latta was one of them. If popular bankers 
were the subject, Latta was sure to receive favorable 
mention. If a Democratic district or State convention 
was being discussed, " Jim " Latta, of Burt, was sure to 
be taken into the reckoning. So, while I had not really 
become acquainted with Latta before his coming here, 
I knew him as you may know parts of your State or 
country you have never seen — by learning its geography 
from a map. 

Latta was so much a part of the business, citizenship, 
and political geography of his part of the State; he had 
put himself on the map of northeast Nebraska so con- 
spicuously in its upbuilding that he became, in the county 
of Burt, in particular, one of its early landmarks, and so 
he remained during life. Latta grew as the country grew. 
Every time a new map had to be made, on account of the 
development and advancement of his section of the State, 
such as the formation of new counties and new political 
divisions, his prominence as a landmark thereon became 
increased. His progress and development kept pace with 
that of the new and rapidly developing country which 
he had chosen as his home. He made good the advice of 
Greeley, " Go west and grow up with the country." He 
helped to develop and advance his section of the State 
and by so doing developed and advanced himself. 



[48] 



Address of Mr. Kinkaid, of Nebraska 

But, Mr. Speaker, it is due mutually to Latta and north- 
east Nebraska as a section to observe that his section was 
not lacking in strong men, successful men — successful in 
business, prominent as citizens — some who were entitled 
to be considered as financiers in a great State, others 
prominent for their citizenship. In fact, the county of 
Burt, his home, can boast of a number of men who be- 
came conspicuous for their ability and achievements in 
commercial and in public life. The county-seat town of 
Tekamah, where he made his home for nearly 50 years, 
produced, noticeably, a number of men who distinguished 
themselves in official life. As a consequence, the favor- 
able estimate to be placed upon Latta is increased rather 
than diminished by the character of his environments. 
It was necessary that he be found worthy in comparison 
and in proportion with his surroundings in order that he 
should become politically honored, and it is to his credit 
that he was found thus worthy, with the standard of the 
citizenship of his town and county so high. 

Taking a wider view, going away from his home to the 
other counties of his congressional district, the estimate is 
legitimately increased by the fact that situated therein 
are some of the best towns and foremost men of Nebraska, 
men who, like Latta, distinguished themselves as busi- 
ness men and financiers and, at the same time, for their 
high qualities and attainments in the best citizenship — 
political and official honors included. 

Mr. Speaker, observation and reflection have convinced 
me that two particular qualifications contribute largely 
to exceptional or extraordinary success. From the prac- 
tical business standpoint, one possessed with the faculty 
to perceive opportunities, coupled with the ability to 
improve them, to turn them to his advantage, such 
a man becomes a capitalist by the possession of these 
qualities alone. A scholar who was a world-wide traveler 

93009°— 13 4 [49] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Latta 



declared, having the United States particularly in mind, 
that " America " was another name for " opportunity." 
The history of our country, its rapid growth in popula- 
tion, in development, and wealth, and its relative standing 
with the civilized nations of the world, together with the 
attainments and achievements realized by persons of 
humble beginnings, abundantly prove the declaration to 
have been true. Our United States, over all its broad 
domain, has been a country of unusual opportunities, 
and the newer and less developed part has all the 
time afforded, according to the popular idea, the best 
opportunities for making a start. 

The star of empire has all the time moved from the 
East westward into the new and undeveloped West. 
Young men have emulated the example set by their 
pioneer fathers by leaving their old homes and going 
West to grow up with the country. It would seem likely 
Latta inherited this predilection, his parents having 
removed from Ohio to eastern Iowa, and this inheritance, 
Mr. Speaker, proved a rich legacy to Latta. He was 
possessed of a practical turn of mind. To him was given 
the clear vision to recognize opportunities large and 
small, and he was possessed of the qualifications to make 
each his own. In his make-up he was not lacking in 
confidence; neither was he overconfident. A good, sound 
judgment secured for him about the right balance. Many 
men perceive opportunities to be good, but have not the 
ability or confidence or courage to improve them. Others 
pass opportunities by for want of the faculty to perceive 
them. It is the few who both perceive and avail them- 
selves of the advantage of the better or best opportunities. 
It is easy enough to look backward and see the numerous 
valuable opportunities we have passed, but this consti- 
tutes only observation and experience; thus we see what 
we have lost or missed. It is the foresight which makes 

[50] 



Address of Mr. Kinkaid, of Nebraska 

for success, Mr. Speaker. Hope pictures the future better 
than the past or present and sees the distant land superior 
to the home neighborhood. Distance lends enchantment 
to the imaginative view, and the farther away the more 
alluring. 

Thus with delight we linger to survey 
The promised joys of life's unmeasured way. 
Thus from afar each dim discovered scene 
More pleasing seems than all the past hath been. 

Young Latta might have done well at that period, 1863, 
to have remained near the parental homestead in eastern 
Iowa. It is certain that on his journey across the State 
for the Missouri River he passed through much virgin 
country, affording opportunities equal to what he found 
in eastern Nebraska, but the imagination of the son of the 
pioneer parents brought to him the view of the country 
west of the Missouri as a promised land, where it appeared 
to him his success might become equal to that of the 
most successful within the limits of his hitherto limited 
observation. At this time — 1863 — the Missouri River 
Valley did abound in great opportunities — chances com- 
mensurate with the work and worth of industrious and 
virile men. 

New communities were to be established; towns, cities, 
and a capital and metropolis were to spring up in Ne- 
braska; but the new and fertile farm lands were the infal- 
lible investment. They were certain to reach a value 
tenfold, if not a hundredfold or two hundred fold more 
than then could be realized. Latta saw this, and he pro- 
ceeded to make the most of it. He acquired lands and 
live stock, and continued to expand in these until he had 
become one of the leading men of business and wealth 
in his community. Finally, his surplus of money being 
adequate, he embarked in a bank. When drought, grass- 
hoppers, and, as a result thereof, depression came, he did 

[51] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Latta 

not lose faith, but persevered, maintaining his faith in the 
future of the country and the people as well. He banked 
on his faith in the future of the country; one less far- 
sighted, resourceful, courageous, and magnanimous might 
have viewed it that he even banked his bank on risks 
taken with his patrons in their financial exigencies; but 
Latta's never-erring business prescience reassured him 
and he firmly adhered to it. When the patrons of his 
bank were confronted with executions and mortgage fore- 
closure, chattel and real, he did not forsake them, even 
when their holdings, judged by their selling value at the 
time, did not warrant the risks which he took. 

But Latta looked beyond the exceptional conditions; 
he reasoned that the country possessed a sure foundation 
for a prosperous future. He reasoned that the crop fail- 
ures caused by drought would be followed by a succession 
of abundant crops, and that grasshoppers might never 
return again, and his faith was vindicated. The risks his 
bank took, which in some cases caused his wisdom as a 
banker to be challenged, turned out to be bread cast upon 
the waters to bring him an hundredfold. Prosperity re- 
stored, business men and farmers, who had been borrow- 
ers of his bank, with a few years of good crops and good 
business became themselves money lenders and deposit- 
ors, with the result that the deposits of Latta's bank were 
greatly augmented. I have not heard that Mr. Latta in 
his young manhood aspired to a political career, and 
infer that his going into politics, being elected first as a 
representative to the Nebraska State Legislature, and 
afterwards to the State Senate, was the result of his suc- 
cessful and popular business and citizenship reputation. 
I deem it probable this was the evolution of circum- 
stances. He had proven, even vindicated, his faith in the 
country and his confidence in his fellow men, and how 
could they better return the compliment than by showing 

[52] 



Address of Mr. Kinkaid, of Nebraska 



their confidence in him by choosing him, first as their 
State legislator and thereafter as their Congressman? 
With two terms in Congress, his political ambition was 
fully gratified. 

For some time previous to receiving any warning of 
his affliction which proved to be fatal, he had declared 
his intention to not be a candidate for renomination or 
reelection. He had also stated to friends that he would 
not entertain the thought of a candidacy for governor, for 
which he had received favorable mention. He regarded 
his two terms in Congress as a testimonial, a reward, of 
his previous career, the merits of his citizenship, business 
and otherwise, including, also, his two terms in the State 
legislature. Politically, his cup was full, and it was his 
desire to go back to the sunlit prairies, to his large farm, 
and behold the broad acres, heavy with grain, to hear the 
low of countless cattle grazing on green pastures, the 
industrious rattle of the mower and reaper, to scent the 
clover and apple blossoms, enjoy the songs of birds, and 
watch his herd of deer and antelope race and gambol 
over the hills of the ample park they feel they own. 

Mr. Speaker, for his locality Latta was a man of large 
wealth, and his constituents had conferred a well-earned 
distinction by several times choosing him as their law- 
maker, State and National. He was fortunate in his do- 
mestic life. He could not have wished for more. He is 
survived by a most estimable wife, with sons who have 
already become successful and prominent and promising 
in business spheres. One of them has been honored by 
being elected mayor of the home town, which office, I 
think, he now holds. These worthy young men are sure 
to conserve and add to the property not only they inherit, 
but as well the good name of their distinguished father. 

Mr. Speaker, with other Congressmen I was present 
at the funeral of Mr. Latta. The capacity of the town 

153] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Latta 

to accommodate even for the daytime the thousands of 
friends and admirers who came to pay their last tribute 
of respect to the deceased was taxed to its limit, if not 
overtaxed. During my stay of 24 hours it was my pleas- 
ure to converse with many who had known Mr. Latta 
for years and had known as well the people of Burt 
County by whom Mr. Latta was so well known, and I was 
deeply impressed by the numerous expressions volun- 
tarily made of the high esteem in which he was held. 
The personal popularity of which I was so strongly con- 
vinced he had enjoyed and deserved to enjoy explained 
fully to me why it was and how it was that Mr. Latta, a 
Democrat, in a county which was normally Republican 
by seven or eight hundred, had been able in his several 
campaigns to carry the county by so large a majority. 

In the throng that assembled at the tomb on the green 
tableland which overlooks the peaceful Missouri Valley 
were men of every calling and every variation of political 
faith. Settlers who had been carried through depression, 
pioneers whose faltering courage had been sustained in 
seasons of distress, and business men who had found help 
in periods of panic came to mourn the loss of the man 
who was ever a vitalizing force in the community where 
he had established his home. And while older men 
remembered many a kindly act, the young looked away 
from the quiet resting place, there in the State which had 
been the land of promise to the Iowa boy of long ago, 
and felt within them the power to make much of their 
opportunities. 

Surely, the value of a man's life, the true meaning of 
his span of years, shall be measured not in material pos- 
sessions or even in special achievements, but in his rela- 
tions to his fellow men. If he shall have in him the spirit 
which recognizes the universal brotherhood, and if he 
shall be guided by that spirit, then he is to be numbered 

[54] 



Address of Mr. Kinkaid, of Nebraska 

among those whose sojourn in the world has made the 
world better. By this measure James P. Latta is to be 
remembered as one of the Nation's builders, a man who 
labored conscientiously in a small way at first, because 
he could cheerfully accept as his task whatever was near- 
est to his hand. With a large faith in humanity, as well 
as in opportunity, he held himself loyally to the work 
of developing his part of the country, and thus he con- 
tributed liberally to the general welfare — thus he set the 
example of noble citizenship which prepares wisely and 
abundantly for future generations. 

In the years that are coming the influence of James P. 
Latta will remain potent. The love and gratitude which 
he kindled in the hearts of all who knew him will stimu- 
late effort and preserve high ideals which will be passed 
on. This is the rich heritage that he left, and all who 
contemplate it must bow in reverence to the name that 
will stand in Nebraska for all the sterling virtues, the 
kindly sympathies, the unselfish traits, and the exalted 
ideals which combine to make a man the representative 
of the highest type of American citizenship. 



[551 



Address of Mr. Norris, of Nebraska 

Mr. Speaker: When the history of the great West is 
written and the story of the development and the ad- 
vancement, the civilization, the progress of education on 
the Great Plains is told it will be found that James P. 
Latta, late Member of this body, and to other men like 
him, is due more than to any other class of people the 
wonderful development of that country, the wonderful 
progress of education, of civilization, and of advance- 
ment. 

Born of humble parents, living, as I understand it, a 
life of poverty, he struggled along through life learning 
from his own experience every one of the trials and diffi- 
culties that beset the pioneer. That he was successful in 
his life financially and politically and in every other 
honorable respect only goes to demonstrate that he was 
made of the stuff that constitutes the truest and the 
noblest manhood. 

In our great Commonwealth Congressman Latta took 
a prominent part in every one of its steps of advance- 
ment. He was there at the beginning; he saw it develop 
into a great garden spot. He came into the country when 
it was uninhabited, save by the red men; he saw it pass 
through all its trials and its troubles, and finally develop 
into one of the greatest agricultural sections of the 
country, if not of the entire civilized world. He lived in 
the midst of its greatest development. He was part and 
parcel of the advancement that it made. He was moved, 
Mr. Speaker, by no great personal ambition; he had no 
particular desire for honor or achievement, but he did 
every day what he believed was his duty to perform. 

[56] 



Address of Mr. Norris, of Nebraska 

Many are the incidents that could be recounted, in 
addition to those that have been spoken of, that showed, 
during his life and the development of his great State, 
the wonderful tenderness of his heart as well as the 
ability of the man in a business direction. He never 
sought public office. He had decided, long before it was 
known either to him or to his friends that his days were 
numbered, that he would not again be a candidate for 
election to the House of Representatives. When this 
announcement was made in the newspapers of Nebraska 
there was immediate mention of his name in connection 
with the governorship of our State, but he promptly 
stated through the public press that at the expiration of 
his term he would never again seek or accept public 
office. 

He had led an eventful life, marked by honorable 
deeds all the way through. He had been successful in 
business, and he desired to put in the balance of his days 
in living a quiet life in his own home, enjoying the well- 
earned competency that his efforts had brought to him, 
and therefore he declined all further political honor. If 
he had consented to the use of his name as a candidate, it 
is my judgment that there would have been but little if 
any opposition to his nomination for that office. His 
life is emblematic of what comes to the life of the higher 
class of pioneers. They are courageous, honest, and 
tender-hearted. The many deeds of kindness that 
marked his pathway through this world would be an 
honor to the heritage of any man, and if at his funeral, 
around his open grave, every man to whom he had done 
a favor or a kind deed would have thrown upon the coffin 
a rose of recollection his grave would have been filled 
with the fragrant flowers of remembrance. 

Mr. Speaker, I believe in an immortality. I believe that 
beyond this life there is an existence better, higher, and 

[57] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Latta 

happier than the life we live here — a life of everlasting 
peace, of eternal hliss. We can not brush away the tear 
from the aged widow's cheek; we can not banish the 
sorrow from the hearts of loving children and loyal 
friends, but we can, even in this hour, reach a condition 
of satisfaction, almost of joy, at the thought that he 
whose loss we now mourn, while he was among us, 
planted along the thorny pathway we must all tread 
flowers that are blooming for our benefit, for our happi- 
ness, and for the comfort and pleasure of those who 
follow. Mr. Speaker, the Kingdom of God is not meat 
and drink, but it is love, peace, and joy. Into that 
kingdom Congressman Latta has entered, and that peace 
he now enjoys. We can confer no greater honor upon 
his memory than to practice the virtues that the story of 
his life has taught us. We can do nothing greater or 
grander for the upbuilding of humanity than to remem- 
ber the example of his everyday life from the time he 
was a penniless boy walking across the plains of Iowa 
to his pioneer Nebraska home up to the time of the close 
of his eventful career. Believing in the life he led, having 
faith in his honesty, in his integrity, recognizing the 
benefit that his life has been to humanity, to a broader 
belief in the Fatherhood of God and the fraternity of 
humanity, I want to say: Honor to his memory here, 
peace to his ashes now, rest and repose to his soul beyond. 



[58] 



Address of Mr. Sloan, of Nebraska 

Mr. Speaker : A stalwart member of our Nebraska dele- 
gation in his late sixties has fallen. The affliction which 
wasted his vigor and drained his life was brief. 

Few men of his age came to this House with form so 
erect, carriage so virile, and such goodly physique as 
James P. Latta. His name, personality, and presence 
would trace his ancestry near unto the channel which 
divides the land of Moore and Burns. His facial dress 
and courteous bearing favor an earlier ancestral strain. 
So, I believe, we had in him a mingling of the Celt and 
Gaul. 

He was a distant neighbor of my parents in eastern 
Iowa. He left that place the year I was born. His span 
of life and activities covered two pioneer periods; one of 
these in a forest county bordering the Mississippi, the other 
a somewhat similar county in Nebraska bordering the 
Missouri. Before his life ended the Nebraska pioneer 
period had passed; its boundaries had inclosed as fair 
a field, subdued and adorned by the arts of genius and 
industry, and its people registered as great an intellectual 
and moral advance as any part of this superb Union. 

I visited his farm home and saw his devotion to the 
tree planters' cause in the care of the natural forestry as 
well as the magnificent trees of his own early planting. 
He was an advocate of tree planting, for which our State 
is named and famed. Among these sported the herds of 
deer and antelope — forest denizens, which he kept and 
for which he cared. It was a devotion to the lessons and 
memory of his youth to love the trees, to preserve and 
build the forest, and so follow the motto of Nebraska's 

[59] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Latta 

great secretary, who, in season and out of season, bade the 
world " Plant trees." 

So I thought of my friend Latta's untimely taking off 
in figure and imagery of trees. His fall from the appear- 
ance of health and strength was the fall of the oak. In 
the country where he and I spent our respective youths 
there grew the bending willow, the swaying birch, and the 
monarch oak. I have seen all of these lashed by the 
storm. I have seen the droop and disfigurement of willow 
and birch, but the oak, in all its sturdy grandeur, stood 
defiant. I have seen a later storm further wound and 
disfigure willow and birch which still stood to live a weak- 
ened life and a delayed dissolution; but the oak, once 
betraying a weakened heart, defective body, or decayed 
root, under the blast of the elements fell with mighty 
crash, there prone to lie in sublime humility where the 
shadow of its once proud form had rested. So the human 
willow or birch oft becomes the scriptural trespasser of 
fourscore years, while the human oak is not permitted its 
span of threescore and ten. 

There are men who strive for the unattainable and 
expend their energies in vain though perhaps laudable 
pursuit; there are those whose faith would move 
mountains; and there are those whose ideals, pressed 
with industry and vigor, inspire the living and genera- 
tions to come. Congressman Latta was not one of these. 
There are those who, attempting to move no mountains, 
lift from the human path obstructing stones; there are 
those who see the immediate problems of life and solve 
them; and there are those w T ho see a present task and 
hasten to perform it with what diligence and ability they 
possess. Of this latter class was the Congressman. 
Through a useful and active life he met with resolution 
and industry the tasks and problems which confronted 
him. He did not pause to regret yesterday's lost oppor- 

[60] 



Address of Mr. Sloan, of Nebraska 



tunity or dream of to-morrow's mighty achievement. He 
did the homely duty of to-day. He was a type of Ne- 
braska pioneer; one of that class who came and stayed; 
the class that inconvenience of frontier life did not fret, 
frowning nature did not frighten, pestilence did not dis- 
hearten, and poverty did not present itself as a tarrying 
guest. 

He had faith in the Golden West, but he looked not for 
metal in Pikes Peak slope or California gulch. He looked 
to his steps and saw beneath his feet more gold in the 
rich and fecund soil of Nebraska plains than all the 
Rocky Mountain yield or added coasts' production or yet 
the product of the Klondike or South Africa's golden 
store. In this he saw not wealth in lucky strike or deep 
and devious vein. That, to be pursued, meant leaving 
the sunshine and pure air of heaven to dig and delve in 
darkened pit where nauseous gases are. He saw, in pros- 
pect, reasonable wealth to be had by stirring seasonably 
the rich surface, seeding with scientific purpose, cultivat- 
ing with the art of an engineer, garnering with care, 
and marketing like an economist. Good results and fair 
reward for him and those about him of his bent and 
energy followed, so that Mr. Latta, in building up himself 
and fortune, drew his community measurably with him. 

In the economy of sentiment and practice " neighbor " 
is a great word. From a neighborhood there can not be 
banished envy, jealousy, unwarranted grudge, or even 
hate. But the man who can overstep these, reduce each 
of them to a minimum, and command the respect, obtain 
the support of not only friend and ally, but those of 
different political faith or business affiliation, has not 
lived his life in vain. That man has achieved one of 
earth's sweetest, if not most commanding, distinctions. 

James P. Latta was a neighborhood man. His business 
associates depended on his ripened judgment. His com- 

[61] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Latta 

petitors respected his methods and admired his ability. 
His fellow citizens, overlooking party ties, supported most 
liberally his political aspirations. His church valued 
highly his membership, his lodge esteemed his fraternal 
support, and his family saw in him the qualities of which 
devoted husband and worthy father are composed. 

I had met him casually in Nebraska and found him 
friendly and courteous. When I first came to Washing- 
ton we talked about many practical matters touching a 
new Congressman's work. Of these he seemed to have 
a special grasp and freely communicated many helpful 
suggestions. As I saw more of him I learned more of why 
he stood so well at home. His bent of mind and corre- 
sponding course of action followed practical lines. He 
talked with a calm and modest pride of his district, its 
people, and its resources. I assume that, thinking of 
these, talking of these, and acting concerning these, in 
his everyday intercourse and relation with his neighbors, 
inspired a confidence in his honesty and rectitude, which, 
after all, goes a long way to supplant ultrapartisanship. 
So it was, whenever he appealed to the people of his 
count}' their response was generous and whole-hearted. 

Our friend Latta has answered the question of his 
being — " whither? " We do not know what message he 
would return if the question of time should be submitted 
to him in regions eternal. We are taught the equality of 
action and reaction, and the unerring relation of cause 
and effect. Every lesson of well-founded faith indicates 
the life to come to be a realization of the feeble sugges- 
tions read in the acts of this life. If doing well the tasks 
of earth is warrant for fitting compensation when time 
shall cease, then Congressman Latta is enjoying his 
reward. 

Mr. Maguirc of Nebraska took the chair as Speaker pro 
tempore. 

[62] 



Address of Mr. Lobeck, of Nebraska 

Mr. Speaker: We meet to-day to pay tribute to the 
memory of our friend and colleague, the Hon. James P. 
Latta. 

For over 30 years it was my great privilege to know, 
personally, Congressman Latta, and from the first day I 
became acquainted with him I realized I was in the 
presence of a manly man, a strong, noble character, 
whose word was as good as the safest bond, and who 
commanded, by his daily life, the respect and confidence 
of his neighbors in every avenue of life's activity. 

During life he was actively engaged in the banking 
business, also attending to and supervising his farms near 
Tekamah. Being a keen observer of events, with great 
foresight he acquired much land near his home, which 
has since become very valuable. His great success in 
life, in all his undertakings, may be attributed to the 
uprightness and honesty which he displayed in all his 
dealings with his fellow man, observing in his daily 
practice the golden rule — doing unto others as he would 
be done by. 

Congressman Latta was a strong man of the common 
people. His ability to use common sense, his knowledge 
of men, and his foresightedness were keen and his judg- 
ment clear on all matters that confronted him. These 
characteristics made him a giant among all men, and his 
opinion and judgment were eagerly sought and accepted 
as coming from one clothed with authority. 

In his dealings with the pioneer settlers of north- 
eastern Nebraska he was kind and fair; he knew their 
struggles in developing that new country; he held out 



[63] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Latta 

to them a helping hand; and many well-to-do, aye, even 
wealthy, farmers in his region owe a large measure of 
their success to the kindness of James P. Latta. No 
better corroboration of this statement can be made than 
the high respect in which he was held by these pioneer 
settlers. They showed their devotion for him throughout 
his political career. No office in his State, had he desired 
it, would they have withheld. They gave further evidence 
of their love and respect for him when, with the great 
men of their State, they gathered from near and far to 
pay their last loving tribute in accompanying his remains 
to their last resting place. 

I met him first when I was a commercial traveler. 
Often, and on nearly every trip, it was a pleasure to me 
to go into his bank and visit him. He was so strong, yet 
so kind and cheerful, that when I left him the world 
seemed brighter for having met him. The greatest 
inspiration to our fellow men is to scatter sunshine as we 
pass by with a happy smile, a cheerful word, kindly 
advice, and by lending a helping hand. This was one 
of his strong characteristics. The Master, the gentle 
Nazarene, understood kindness, taught it, and it has ever 
been so and will be until the end of time. 

I knew Congressman Latta in public life as a member 
of the lawmaking bodies of the State of Nebraska. He 
commanded, while serving in this capacity, the respect 
of his fellow legislators and his opinion was eagerly 
sought by his colleagues and his votes always cast on the 
basis of equal justice to all. It was my pleasure to cam- 
paign in his district at his first election to Congress. 
Everywhere I went the pioneers knew " Jim Latta," and 
every one loved and respected him. When, later, my 
people honored me by electing me a Member of this Con- 
gress, among the first to congratulate me was James P. 
Latta. 



[64] 



Address of Mr. Lobeck, of Nebraska 

Upon coming here he personally gave me the benefit 
of his experience; to me he was as a brother — nay, more, 
a wise counselor — and was so kind in helping me in every 
way that I at once felt at home in my new work and new 
associations. 

When his illness came he could not understand it. To 
me it seemed so strange to see this strong, rugged man 
feel weary; but it was the final call. When he left for 
his home to rest, as he hoped for, we waited for good 
news. Every day the Members would ask me, " How is 
Mr. Latta?" They knew him, respected and loved him. 
We hoped and wished for a speedy recovery and watched 
for news from the sick room, until one day the news 
flashed over the wires, " James P. Latta is no more." 

It was my sad privilege to attend the funeral of my 
friend. A great concourse of neighbors were present to 
pay final tribute, thus showing the esteem in which he 
was held. Gentle hands laid him away on a great hill 
overlooking to the east the State of Iowa, to the north 
and south the great Missouri River, and to the west the 
beautiful farms of Nebraska. 

James P. Latta loved his country, his flag, and the 
Nation. He loved, too, his adopted State of Nebraska. 
He had known the State for nearly a lifetime. He and 
his beloved companion knew by experience the struggles 
of the pioneer. He had seen his great State grow. He had 
helped develop it to become one of the greatest agricul- 
tural lands, and it was fitting that at the close of his busy 
life he should be laid away along the banks of the great 
Missouri, overlooking the fairest of lands, the States he 
loved best. 

No language or words of mine could do justice to the 
strong character and upright manhood of James P. Latta. 
His daily life is his best eulogy. In his passing away his 



93009°— 13 5 [65] 



Memorial Addresses : Representative Latta 

city, his State, and the Nation lost a noble, true-hearted, 
and upright citizen. 

To me it was a personal loss. He was my counselor and 
my friend, and 1 accord it a high privilege to pay tribute 
to his memory here to-day. 

Mr. Stephens of Nebraska. Mr. Speaker, a number of 
the Members of the House who desired to speak to-day 
are necessarily absent, and I ask unanimous consent that 
those who wish to do so may have the privilege for five 
days of extending remarks in the Record upon the life, 
character, and services of the late Hon. James P. Latta. 

The Speaker pro tempore (Mr. Lobeck). The gentle- 
man from Nebraska [Mr. Stephens] asks unanimous con- 
sent that Members wishing to extend their remarks may 
have that privilege. Is there objection? 

There was no objection. 

adjournment 

In accordance with the resolution previously agreed to; 
and as a further mark of respect to the memory of Mr. 
Latta, the House (at 2 o'clock and 9 minutes p. m.) 
adjourned until to-morrow, Monday, May 27, 1912, at 11 
o'clock a. m. 



[66] 



Proceedings in the Senate 

Tuesday, December 5, 1911. 

The President pro tempore (Mr. Curtis). The Chair 
lays before the Senate resolutions from the House of Rep- 
resentatives, which will be read. 

The Secretary read the resolutions, as follows: 

Resolved, That the House has heard with profound sorrow of 
the death of the Hon. James P. Latta, late a Representative 
from the State of Nebraska. 

Resolved, That the Clerk of the House be directed to transmit 
a copy of these resolutions to the Senate. 

Mr. Brown. Mr. President, I offer the following resolu- 
tions and ask for their adoption. 

The President pro tempore. The resolutions submitted 
by the Senator from Nebraska will be read. 

The resolutions were read, considered by unanimous 
consent, and unanimously agreed to, as follows: 

Resolved, That the Senate has heard with deep sensibility the 
announcement of the death of Hon. James P. Latta, late a Rep- 
resentative from the State of Nebraska. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate a copy of these 
resolutions to the House of Representatives and to the family 
of the deceased. 

Mr. Brown. Mr. President, as a further mark of respect 
to the memory of the deceased Member I move that the 
Senate adjourn. 

The motion was unanimously agreed to, and (at 3 
o'clock and 12 minutes p. m.) the Senate adjourned until 
Thursday, December 7, 1911, at 2 o'clock p. m. 



[671 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Latta 

Tuesday, February 11, 1913. 
Mr. Hitchcock. Mr. President, I should like to give 
notice that on Saturday, March 1, I will ask the Senate 
to consider resolutions commemorative of the life and 
public services of the late James P. Latta, a Member of 
the House of Representatives from Nebraska. 

Saturday, March 1, 1913. 
The Senate met at 10 o'clock a. m. 

The Chaplain, Rev. Ulysses G. R. Pierce, D. D., offered 
the following prayer: 

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, we thank Thee 
for the gracious Providence which brings us to this day 
of solemn and reverent memory. As we recall the life 
and public service of him whom we this day commemo- 
rate, we pray Thee to inspire our minds and to give 
utterance to our lips that we may fitly honor the life 
which Thou hast called to Thy nearer presence and to 
Thy higher service. 

We pray Thee, our Father, to comfort those that mourn. 
Uphold them by Thy heavenly grace and grant that 
neither height of remembered joys nor the depth of 
sorrows that can not be forgotten, nor the present with 
its burdens nor the future with its loneliness may be able 
to separate them from the love of God which is in Christ 
Jesus our Lord. • 

In the name of Him who abolished death and brought 
life and immortality to light, hear Thou our prayer. 
Amen. 

Mr. Gallinger took the chair as President pro tempore 
under the previous order of the Senate. 

The Secretary proceeded to read the Journal of yester- 
day's proceedings, when, on request of Mr. Smoot and by 
unanimous consent, the further reading was dispensed 
with and the Journal was approved. 

[C8] 



Proceedings in the Senate 



Mr. Hitchcock. Mr. President, I ask the Chair to lay 
before the Senate resolutions of the House of Representa- 
tives on the death of my late colleague in that body, 
James P. Latta. 

The President pro tempore (Mr. Gallinger) . The Chair 
lays before the Senate resolutions from the House of rep- 
resentatives, which the Secretary will read. 

The Secretary read the resolutions, as follows: 

In the House of Representatives, 

May 26, 1912. 

Resolved, That the business of the House be now suspended, 
that opportunity may be given to pay tribute to the memory of 
Hon. James P. Latta, late a Member of the House from the State 
of Nebraska. 

Resolved, That as a particular mark of respect to the memory 
of the deceased, and in recognition of his distinguished public 
career, the House, at the conclusion of these exercises, shall 
stand adjourned. 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the 
Senate. 

Resolved, That the Clerk send a copy of these resolutions to the 
family of the deceased. 

Mr. Hitchcock. Mr. President, I offer the resolutions 
which I send to the desk and ask for their adoption. 

The President pro tempore. The Senator from Ne- 
braska submits resolutions, which will be read. 

The resolutions (S. Res. 494) were read, considered 
by unanimous consent, and unanimously agreed to, as 
follows : 

Resolved, That the Senate expresses its profound sorrow on 
account of the death of the Hon. James P. Latta, late a Member 
of the House of Representatives from the State of Nebraska. 

Resolved, That the business of the Senate be now suspended, in 
order that fitting tribute may be paid his high character and dis- 
tinguished public services. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate a copy of these 
resolutions to the House of Representatives and to the family of 
the deceased. 



T691 



Address of Mr. Hitchcock, of Nebraska 

Mr. President: The life of James P. Latta was typical 
of our country's recent progress. Born in Ohio in 1844, 
during his childhood he went with his parents to Iowa, 
then in her first development There he remained until 
18 years of age, when, a mere boy, becoming ambitious 
to find for himself a new home in the farther West, he 
secured the consent of his father, and alone, on foot, 
started across the State of Iowa to seek a home in the 
State of Nebraska. I say this is typical of our American 
progress, for the tide of population has flowed from the 
East toward the West in a never-ceasing stream, and 
ambitious men, like Representative Latta's father and 
like Representative Latta himself, have turned their faces 
to the westward and sought their new homes in the 
" promised land." 

Mr. Latta's life was also illustrative of our American 
development. Beginning life as a young man upon a 
farm on the banks of the Missouri River in Nebraska, by 
industry and thrift, by intelligence and energy, he gradu- 
ally acquired a competence, established for himself a 
home, developed a prosperous farm, and, after 15 years 
of highly successful farming, was able to enter the bank- 
ing business, in which he met with equal, if not greater, 
success. 

Following his experience as a banker, in the riper years 
of his life he secured the confidence and esteem of his 
neighbors to such an extent that he was successively 
elected treasurer of his home town, mayor of the town, 
later to the legislature, first as representative and then as 
State senator, and finally, toward the close of his event- 

[70] 



Address of Mr. Hitchcock, of Nebraska 



ful life, he was elected a Member of the House of Repre- 
sentatives from the third Nebraska district. 

I say that in this respect his life has been typical of 
American development, because this man, with few early 
advantages, in spite of great obstacles, not only walked 
to his new western home, but, starting with nothing, made 
himself a successful farmer, and after being a successful 
farmer, made himself a successful banker, and stepped 
naturally into the public service by reason of the great 
confidence reposed in him by his neighbors and friends. 

James P. Latta was an unusual man, Mr. President. 
Strong of body and strong of mind, with a great heart and 
a broad sympathy, he was not content to win success for 
himself alone, but he became a tower of strength in the 
community in which he lived. In the times of stress and 
disaster in 1893, when the whole West was in a condition 
of depression, when farmers were in distress, when busi- 
ness men were in embarrassment, James P. Latta, then the 
prosperous farmer and successful banker, was not con- 
tent to look after himself alone, for he realized his respon- 
sibility to the community in which he lived and to the 
neighbors who surrounded him, and not only exhausted 
all his own personal resources in assisting them in their 
distress, but, to my certain knowledge, he took of his 
good securities, came to the East, and pledged them in 
order to raise money that he might lend it to his less suc- 
cessful neighbors. This great act of his saved many from 
bankruptcy in those days, enabling a great many farmers 
in his own county to hold the properties which they had 
mortgaged. And when the clouds had cleared away 
and prosperity had again come to Nebraska and the West, 
it was no wonder that those neighbors of his insisted on 
elevating him to the position of their Representative at 
Washington. 



[71] 



Memorial Addresses : Representative Latta 

He won his success not because he was in political 
accord with his constituents, but because he had such a 
hold upon their sympathies and their confidence that they 
voluntarily sent him to Washington. 

I shall long remember some of the sights which I wit- 
nessed upon the occasion of his second campaign in that 
district. He was kind enough to take me through the 
district and introduce me to his friends, I being then a 
candidate for the Senate, and I remember how all over 
that district he was hailed not simply as their Represent- 
ative in Congress, but hailed as their father and their 
protector because of the sacrifices which he had made 
in their interest. 

When, at the end of a long nine days' trip, during 
which we had stopped at a hundred different towns in 
his district, on a certain golden afternoon in our won- 
derful Indian summer we reached his home town for the 
final meeting in that campaign, the outpouring of the 
people, his neighbors and his Mends, to welcome him, 
without regard to party, with closed stores and closed 
offices, with shouts and huzzas and an enthusiasm rarely 
equaled in a local candidate, was something I shall long 
remember. 

He was an unusual man — unusual in his strength, 
unusual in his sympathies, unusual in his courage, and 
unusual in the fact that he was able, after a long life of 
toil in the business world, to enter public life and acquit 
himself honorably and creditably. 



[72] 



> 



Address of Mr. Brown, of Nebraska 

Mr. Townsend. Mr. President, the senior Senator from 
Nebraska [Mr. Brown] is unavoidably absent, having 
been compelled to be away from the city this afternoon. 
He has prepared, however, a loving and sincere tribute 
to his late colleague in the House, and he has asked me 
to present it to the Senate for him this evening, which 
duty I very gladly perform. 

He says: 

I knew Congressman Latta first when he was a State 
senator in the Nebraska Legislature. At that time, as 
attorney general of the State, I had necessary occasion to 
know at first-hand the character of the man. He was true 
and faithful. His good sense, his business head, and his 
honest heart made him a foremost factor in that body and 
won for him the confidence and esteem of all his col- 
leagues and the appreciative regard and respect of his 
constituents. His record was clean. Early in that serv- 
ice he developed a fearless indifference to his own politi- 
cal fortune. His sole guide and inspiration seemed to be 
the welfare of the people— all of them. He never divided 
the people into classes. Whether men were engaged on 
the farm or on the range, in the store or in the factory, 
in the banking house or in the railway headquarters, he 
treated them all alike and stood for a square deal for 
each and all. He was true to this standard throughout 
his service in the American Congress. 

In his campaigns Mr. Latta was never known to appeal 
to class prejudice in order to win votes for himself or his 
party. He was too patriotic to do that. He was too 
square in thought and character to resort to this easy 

[73] 



Memorial Addresses: Representative Latta 

though crooked method of electing himself to office. He 
was, therefore, a most wholesome influence in politics. 
Let me say to the honor of the people of the State who 
elected him first to the State senate and then to the Na- 
tional House of Representatives and to the honor of all 
the people of that rich and progressive State, they, like 
him, are good and true and square. Their ideals, like his, 
are high and noble, and they, like him, are devoted to 
the upbuilding and advancement of American ideals and 
institutions. If men like Latta, modest and conscien- 
tious, earnest and vigilant, unafraid of personal political 
mishap, could always be found to serve in office the future 
welfare of this country and its institutions would be 
secure. 

Mr. Latta was steadfast in his devotion and in his 
service to the people who had elected him. He was a 
great man in the sense that greatness is measured by 
sincerity, capacity, and industry. He had the courage 
and determination of the pioneer. From the day he took 
a homestead in the State of Nebraska to the hour of his 
death he stood and fought for his country's welfare and 
for civic standards of high and noble character. In poli- 
tics he was partisan, believing in the agency of political 
parties as the most practical instrument through which 
to determine and establish State and National policies. 
As a Member of Congress and as a servant of his con- 
stituents he talked for good things, and he always voted 
as he talked. 

In one respect Mr. Latta was a remarkable man; he 
had the trait of character which in these more recent 
days is not found too frequently in public men — he did 
not advertise his own honesty by impugning the motives 
of others. He never assumed to be the only honest friend 
the people had in Congress. He had another remark- 
able trait — he devoted himself to quietly serving the peo- 

[74] 



Address of Mr. Brown, of Nebraska 

pie faithfully, and therefore he furnished few headlines 
for the newspapers. He allowed his service to speak for 
itself and he left the advertising politician a free hand. 
Should the days of pretension and hypocrisy ever over- 
take this country, men of Latta's character would receive 
scant recognition. 

By every test Congressman James P. Latta was a good 
man, and this is the highest tribute that can be paid to 
any man. He hated everything wrong and mean; he 
loved everything good and right. 

The life that counts must toil and fight, 
Must hate the wrong and love the right, 
Must stand by truth by day, by night; 
This is the life that counts. 

The life that counts must hopeful be, 
In darkest night make melody, 
Must wait the dawn on bended knee; 
This is the life that counts. 

The life that counts is lived with God, 
And runs not from the cross, the rod, 
But walks with joy where Jesus trod; 
This is the life that counts. 

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[75] 



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